A big rig driver was injured and rushed to the hospital Wednesday morning after his truck was seen swerving across all lanes of the interstate seconds before it left the roadway and plunged down an embankment near Valencia Boulevard.
The driver, whose identity and age have not been disclosed, was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital shortly after 5:45 a.m.
The solo-vehicle crash happened shortly after 5:35 a.m. on the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 when the big rig went down the embankment just south of Valencia Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol.
“The number four and five (northbound) lanes will be closed for about four hours,” CHP Officer Eric Preissman told The Signal at 10 a.m.
CHP investigators are looking into all aspects of the crash, Preissman said, including the possibility that the driver may have suffered a medical problem prior to the crash.
CHP received reports from a couple of passing motorists that the 18-wheeler was weaving across lanes prior for about a mile before going over the side of the embankment.
Paramedics with the Los Angeles County Fire Department were dispatched to the crash at 5:36 a.m., Fire Department spokeswoman Vanessa Lozano said.
“This was for a traffic collision with possible persons trapped,” she said.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, however, they found no person trapped.
The driver was taken to the hospital at 5:48 a.m., Lozano said.
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