A Texas truck driver died and another man was injured following a late-night crash involving two tractor trailers on Interstate 78 in Upper Bern Township, according to Pennsylvania State Police and the Berks County Coroner’s Office.
Berks County Coroner Matthew J. Stitzel identified the deceased driver as Donald Gene Hausenfluck, 61, of San Antonio, Texas.
According to state police, the crash occurred at approximately 11:50 p.m. May 15 on westbound Interstate 78 near mile marker 25.6.
Police said a tractor trailer operated by Hausenfluck was traveling westbound in the right lane when, for unknown reasons, it drifted from the roadway onto the right shoulder and struck the rear of a parked tractor trailer.
The impact caused disabling damage to the parked vehicle and caused Hausenfluck’s tractor trailer to overturn, police said. The vehicle then struck an embankment before coming to rest facing north a short distance from the initial impact. Westbound lanes and both shoulders were blocked following the crash.
Hausenfluck was transported to Reading Hospital by Northern Berks EMS with life-threatening injuries and was later pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. May 16, according to the coroner’s office.
The coroner’s office determined the cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma, and the manner of death was ruled accidental.
The driver of the parked tractor trailer, identified by state police as 25-year-old Cameron Quadrius of Riverdale, Georgia, suffered suspected moderate injuries and was transported to Reading Hospital by Hamburg EMS.
Police said the parked tractor trailer had been stopped on the right shoulder prior to the crash.
A secondary crash involving two passenger vehicles occurred shortly afterward in the area, according to state police. Additional details on that crash were not immediately released.
Shoemakersville, Hamburg, and Strausstown fire departments assisted at the scene. V&M Towing handled removal of the vehicles and cleanup efforts, while the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency responded due to hazardous materials concerns involving batteries being transported in one of the tractor trailers.
Westbound Interstate 78 was closed between Exit 29 in Hamburg and Exit 23 in Shartlesville for several hours following the crash.
The incident remains under investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police Hamburg Station.
