Driver starts to choke, tractor-trailer runs off I-44

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a tractor-trailer crashed on I-44 last week after the driver started to choke while eating.

A spokesman for the Patrol tells NewsTalk KZRG that 61-year-old Donald C. Smith of Wichita was headed west about 3 miles west of Sarcoxie around 11 p.m. last Thursday when the accident happened.

After Smith began choking, his westbound 2022 Freightliner ran off the left side of the Interstate and struck the cable barrier. That caused one of his trailers to overturn.

Smith was taken by ambulance to a Joplin hospital. He suffered only moderate injuries.