Chain of crashes snarls I-40

CARY -- One person was severely injured during a series of collisions on Interstate 40 that snarled rush-hour traffic Monday morning.

The injured man, Gerald Reid, 43, of Raleigh, was taken to Duke Hospital, where he was in critical condition in the intensive care unit, said Trooper I.J. Cooper of the state Highway Patrol.

Three motorists with minor injuries were taken to other hospitals, Cooper said.

The accidents started just before 8:40 a.m. after a minor rear-end collision between two vehicles traveling in the westbound lanes near the North Harrison Avenue exit, Cooper said.

"The vehicles were already on the shoulder of the road," he said. "It wasn't even in the roadway."

The fender-bender caused traffic to slow down, leading to a chain reaction of more crashes that started when a tractor-trailer plowed into the rear of a Honda Accord driven by Reid. The Honda ended up underneath the truck and was being dragged along when both it and the truck rammed into the rear of a Saturn. The Saturn spun out of control and hit a Toyota Camry, which then struck two more vehicles, Cooper reported.

The driver of the Saturn, Karen Jensen, 39, of Raleigh, was transported to WakeMed-Raleigh, while the drivers of the tractor-trailer, Thomas Harris, 43, of Roseboro, and the Camry, Phyllis Burt, 60, of Raleigh, were taken to Rex Hospital, said Sgt. Jorge Brewer of the Highway Patrol.

The accidents brought westbound traffic to a halt and slowed eastbound traffic.

Charges are pending.