Driver facing DUI charges following I-95 crash in Northeast Philadelphia

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA - March 5, 2014

The accident happened at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday on I-95 South, south of Woodhaven in Northeast Philadelphia.

According to police, 24-year-old Nicholas Harris of Wilmington, Delaware stopped his 2002 Honda Odyssey partially on the shoulder and partially in the right lane of the highway.

Police say 32-year-old trucker Brandon Ballard of Philadelphia, swerved his truck into the center lane to avoid Harris's minivan, but when Ballard tried to get back in the right lane, he lost control of the truck, which flipped off the road and onto the embankment.

Emergency responders spent more than an hour trying to get Ballard out of his badly damaged truck. He suffered serious injuries.

Police say Harris will be charged with DUI in connection with the accident.

Two of the southbound lanes were reopened at mid-morning, but PennDOT warned drivers that more road closures would be needed to upright the truck and finish the cleanup. And around 12:30 p.m. the southbound lanes were all closed, as those efforts got under way.

That was bad news for drivers who were stuck for over an hour.

By around 1:30, the truck was up righted and its load of boxes cleared away. Southbound lanes were completely re-opened before 2:00 p.m.

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