Three injured in I-64 crash

A major crash on Interstate 64 sent three people to the hospital Thursday morning after a vehicle crossed the median and entered the opposite lanes.

The crash was reported around 8:45 a.m. Thursday in the westbound lanes of Interstate 64 near the 101 mile marker.

According to the accident report, witnesses said the car’s driver lost control after passing a tractor trailer and went into the median.

“He was already kind of sideways when he came off the road,” witness Chris Rogers said. “Then he started flipping. He hit the van and kept flipping.”

Rogers said the vehicle he was in was nearly involved in the crash.

“It was close,” he said. “He landed right beside us. The van couldn’t get out of the way.”

The two vehicles collided nearly head-on, and left debris covering the westbound lanes and in the grass. While the car came to rest on its wheels, the van rolled onto its right side along the shoulder.

The driver, identified as 27-year-old Mutombo Mbaya of Lexington, was ejected from the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office. He was flown from the scene to the University of Kentucky Medical Center.

Two of the three people in the van were transported to the hospital as well. The driver, Leron M. Washington of Huntington, West Virginia, was trapped and was extricated by Clark County and Winchester firefighters. He was transported to UK as well.

One passenger, Alphonse Brown of Huntington, West Virginia, was also injured and transported to Clark Regional Medical Center. The third person, Jacob Gilbert of Ashland, was uninjured.

The westbound lanes of Interstate 64 were shut down for a couple hours while the Clark County Sheriff’s Office investigated the crash.

SportsPlus