SANTO – A passenger was pronounced dead and the driver was taken by helicopter to a Metroplex hospital with a severe injury after an 18-wheeler wreck on Interstate 20 south of Santo Friday morning, the Texas Department of Public Safety reported.
The westbound truck veered right off the highway about a half mile west of Farm-to-Market Road 4, went down an embankment, crossed the service road and landed upside down in a creek around 7:40 a.m., according to reports.
John Dewayne Dun, 46, of Phoenix, Ariz., was believed to have been riding without a seatbelt in the sleeper berth.
“[The passenger] was pronounced deceased at the scene at 8:30 a.m. by Judge [Todd] Baker,” DPS Sgt. Jason Dudley said.
The driver, Thomas Margotoulos, 53, of Preston, Ariz., was extricated from the wreckage after about three hours when a tow truck was able to pull the cab off him, according to investigating DPS trooper Travis Alewine. He was reportedly wearing a seatbelt.
He was conscious when he was pulled out, according to Alewine, and flown by air ambulance to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
“He had a severe leg injury from where the truck was sitting on it,” Alewine said.
The cause of the wreck is still under investigation, Dudley said, but added fatigue could be a factor.
As of Friday afternoon, officials did not know where the men were headed because the log book and other information could not be found due to the severe damage to the vehicle, Alewine said.
Swift Transportation, the owner of the vehicle, called a hazardous materials crew from Fort Worth to clean up a diesel and oil spill into a creek, Alewine said. Cleanup is expected to continue through Monday.
The north service road was shut down and several wrecking companies were still out Friday afternoon cleaning up the wreckage and the scattered load of spools of twine.
Santo Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, Tri-Cities EMS and Texas Department of Transportation also responded.
Teen steals, wrecks grandparents' truck
A 14-year-old girl was transported to Palo Pinto General Hospital for evaluation after she was involved in a wreck early Thursday morning.
The girl reportedly stole her grandparent’s 1996 Toyota Tacoma from a residence in the 2100 block of S.E. 25th Avenue overnight and wrecked it on Oaks Crossing Road.
The girl’s grandmother called police around 7:30 a.m. Thursday when they noticed the truck and girl missing and found a note in the girl’s room that said the truck was on Oaks Crossing Road, according to police.
The girl and a 17-year-old male passenger were found at another house later than morning, police said.
The case was turned over to juvenile probation, police reported.
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Santo Fire and EMS personnel check on the conditions of two men inside a tractor-trailer rig after it wrecked Friday morning on Interstate 20 near Farm-to-Market Road 4. The passenger was killed and the driver seriously injured, according to officials. Brian Gordon/Courtesy
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