Boone County, KY : Lexington man killed, another seriously injured in a wreck on southbound I-71 in Boone County on Thursday morning, January 29, 2015

His tractor-trailer lay strewn across the highway, bits and pieces of metal scattered in the grassy median separating northbound Interstate 71 from southbound I-71 in Boone County.

He managed to walk away without serious injuries, but the crash killed one person, seriously injured another and shut down part of the highway for more than five hours Thursday morning.

Christopher Thornhill, a 33-year-old truck driver from Rossburg, Ohio, was driving northbound on I-71 in Verona when he sideswiped an unoccupied disabled vehicle on the side of the road and crashed into oncoming traffic, officials said.

Two vehicles slammed head-on into Thornhill's overturned truck.

One of the drivers, 45-year-old Mark Sevilla of Lexington, Kentucky, died before paramedics even arrived at the scene.

The other driver, 64-year-old Sandra Edwards of Cincinnati, was flown to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, said Tom Scheben, spokesperson for the Boone County Sheriff's Office.

Thornhill's tractor-trailer, owned by DL Winner Livestock Express, was equipped to transport livestock but the trailer was empty at the time of the crash.

The disabled vehicle was not in the roadway when Thornhill struck it, Scheben said. It was not immediately clear what caused Thornhill to hit the disabled vehicle.

Authorities closed I-71 in both directions near the 71/75 split until about 11 a.m., when the northbound side reopened.

Southbound I-71, blocked by the overturned tractor-trailer, was reopened around 5:15 p.m., Scheben said in a news release.

Initial investigations indicate all drivers involved were wearing their seat belts.

Source :
One man dead after multi-vehicle crash on I-71