BILLERICA, Mass — The driver of the fuel tanker involved in a wreck on Route 3 in Billerica ‘bears no responsibility’ for the crash that spilled thousands of gallons of fuel and shut down the major highway for hours Wednesday, state police say.
Although dashcam video clears the tanker driver of fault, charges may still be levied against the other drivers involved in the crash, Massachusetts State Police say.
The dashcam video captures a white 2022 GMC Sierra merge in front of and then making contact with a white 2022 Tesla Model Y SUV. The contact of that crash sent the pickup truck spinning across the highway into the side of the tanker, which was driving in the right travel lane.
:quality(70)/d1hfln2sfez66z.cloudfront.net/11-15-2023/t_5853dd2046734d6b8cbf06927685bf7b_name_file_1920x1080_1200_v3_1_.jpg)
Crews worked all day and night Wednesday and into early Thursday morning cleaning up after the crash.
As of Thursday morning all lanes of traffic had reopened.
On Thursday, the State Police Commercial, Vehicle Enforcement Section began an inspection of the tanker which is normal procedure for any crash involving commercial vehicles, according to MSP.
MassDOT said environmental cleanup would continue until 3:00 p.m. on Thursday and will resume during the overnight hours from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Friday morning.
“The pickup that was involved in that, tt didn’t look like he was having a good day. The tanker, it looked like he was actually trying to get out of the way, from the little bit I saw. There wasn’t anything he could’ve done differently,” said Jim Davenport.
Drivers like Davenport were stuck for hours. His GPS arrival time kept increasing.
“So that 8 minutes turned into 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes,” he said.
Video shared by Nathalia McGlashing, who was passing by the crash on the opposite of the highway, showed fuel pouring from the tanker and debris scattered in the roadway.
:quality(70)/d1hfln2sfez66z.cloudfront.net/11-15-2023/t_cee0f1b088fe4e3bae0e49746c49b705_name_file_1080x1920_5400_.jpg)
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2023 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/RNSLKQ3KYZ3ZJ7LNPBNPOQES4A.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/S77Z3BCEGBFFJOGHJ4N7ZWHD2M.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/5UWH2OVM3VAJ7MOZGKS5IUL3Z4.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/6T744YD6SNCCVBYK5YC6I7T3ZA.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/AWFXSKSRG5DBDKUKVZOW7H2TCI.png)