1 Dead In Pickup, Tractor-Trailer Crash

BOSTON -- One man is dead after a crash involving a car, a tractor-trailer and a pickup truck on Interstate 495 on Thursday morning. Police said severe thunderstorms that moved through the area may have been a factor in the crash.

1 Dead In Tractor-Trailer, Pickup Crash

The Kenworth tractor-trailer was traveling north on I-495 in Chelmsford when a Dodge Intrepid hit it. After the collision, the driver of the tractor-trailer lost control, and the truck crossed the median, broke through the guardrail into southbound traffic, state police said. The tractor-trailer hit a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck head-on, killing the driver, Charles Butzer, 67, of Sanford, N.C.

"Right now the accident is being investigated, it's preliminary, and obviously the tractor-trailer truck came from the northbound side of 495, crossed over the median strip and hit another vehicle head on causing the fatality," said Massachusetts State Police Capt. Richard Cashin.

The southbound lanes of the highway were reopened about three hours after the 10 a.m. crash.

"My life went before my eyes today. What a sight. When it crashed, the explosion, I saw a lot of debris fly. I just looked for second because I had to keep control of my vehicle as not to get in an accident myself. I thought the cars behind us were going to hit us because they all had to come to a quick stop," said Hank White, of Tewksbury.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Jody Anderson, 46, of Millville, N.J., was taken to Lowell General Hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the Intrepid, Kaitlyn Driscoll, 22, of Fitchburg, was not injured.

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