Buttery Mess Blocks Access To I-10 After Semi Flips In Banning

BANNING, CA — Crews had a slippery situation on their hands Friday morning, when a big rig hauling a load of buttery spread crashed off Interstate 10 and landed on the freeway onramp. The California Highway Patrol says the incident happened just before 7 a.m. in Banning.

According to CHP Officer Darren Meyer, a 23-year-old Lathrop man was driving a big rig westbound on I-10 when the crash occurred. The trailer was loaded with 40,000 pounds of vegetable spread.

Just after the man crossed over the 8th Street bridge, he drifted off the north edge of the freeway and onto the dirt shoulder, Meyer said. The driver lost control while trying to get back into the westbound lanes, and headed down the embankment instead. He slammed into a block wall, just north of the freeway.

"The impact of the collision caused the trailer to open, spilling its load of Earth Balance butter spread onto the 8th Street onramp," Meyer said.

The driver and a woman who was in the truck's sleeper compartment were both taken to the hospital with injuries described as moderate, Meyer said. No other vehicles or people were involved.

Meyer said the 8th Street onramp to westbound I-10 was closed as a result of the crash so the spread could be cleaned up and the truck moved.

The CHP is investigating the crash.