A non-injury crash near Emporia’s western city limits led to the arrest of the driver of the semi involved in the wreck.
Lyon County Sergeant Zach Shafer says deputies, Emporia Police and Emporia-Lyon County EMS were dispatched to the Interstate 35 roundabout shortly after 2:30 am Thursday after a semi overturned. The crash investigation determined the driver, 33-year-old Elvir Huskic of Waterloo, Iowa, was southbound when he failed to negotiate the roundabout. Huskic overcorrected and the semi tipped over.
Shafer says Huskic was driving too fast for the roundabout and he says alcohol played a role in the wreck, although blood alcohol levels have not been released. Huskic was arrested on suspicion of driving a commercial vehicle under the influence of alcohol as well as speeding. Formal charges are pending through the Lyon County Attorney’s Office.
Huskic was wearing his seatbelt and was not hurt.
5:45 am Thursday: Semi tipover slows traffic on Emporia’s Interstate 35 roundabout
Traffic is moving slowly around the site of an overturned semi in far west Emporia.
The semi tipped over on the west edge of the Interstate 35 roundabout connecting that highway to US Highway 50 and the Kansas Turnpike around 2:30 am. No injuries were reported and the cause for the wreck is unclear.
It’s not yet known when the semi will be uprighted and traffic can return to normal.
That roundabout and the one a few hundred feet further south have seen a host of semi rollover incidents since they were built in 2009 as part of a project to eliminate the so-called “spaghetti bowl” of ramps connecting the highways. The West Highway 50 roundabout was reconfigured in 2012 and 2013 because of the number of semi tipovers.