by Geoff Fox
Two people were injured in a five-vehicle accident on Monday morning, January 14, at the 2-mile marker on westbound Interstate 70 in Hancock. The accident scene was just before the bridge over Pennsylvania Avenue.
According to Maryland State Police, around 10 a.m. Monday morning, troopers from the Maryland State Police Hagerstown Barrack were dispatched to the report of a personal injury collision on westbound I-70 involving a total of five vehicles.
Preliminary investigation by police reveled a collision occurred in the travel portion of the interstate and the cars involved in the initial vehicle collision had pulled off onto the left shoulder of the highway and were partially in the roadway.
Shortly after the collision occurred, a vehicle was attempting to pass a tractor-trailer that was traveling westbound and struck one of the vehicles that had been partially in the roadway, which in turn struck one of the drivers who had exited their vehicle from the previous collision.
The driver of the vehicle attempting to pass the tractor-trailer became trapped in their vehicle, police said.
According to police, the vehicles involved were a Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado, Chevy Malibu, Chevy Silverado, and a Peterbuilt Tractor-trailer. Names of the injured and drivers were not released as of press time.
Emergency response units were on the scene as well as Troopers from the Hagerstown Barrack and from the Crash Team Unit. Maryland State Police Aviation was on the scene and transported one patient to Cumberland while a second patient was transported by ambulance to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown.
State Highway Administration was also on scene and assisted with the road closure at the 3-mile marker, directing westbound traffic onto Main Street. The interstate was closed for just over two hours.
Traffic through town was directed back to the westbound interstates by turning onto Virginia Avenue and onto High Street.
