Cheeeeeeeeeese! Cheese on I-95

Crash spills fuel, cheese onto I-95
By Angela Carella Assistant City Editor, March 5, 2008

STAMFORD - A tractor-trailer accident near Exit 6 of Interstate 95 about 8 p.m. Monday created such a mess that it was not cleared until rush hour yesterday morning, state police said.

The operator of the truck, which was carrying cheese, lost control "after being distracted by his coffee" and swerved into the right shoulder, where he struck the guardrail and skidded into the rock embankment, a state police report said.

The crash broke open the trailer, throwing cheese onto I-95, and split the side gasoline tank, spilling about 50 gallons of diesel fuel, according to the report.

There were no injuries.

The driver, Kurt Lentz, 55, of Pennsylvania, whose truck had Indiana plates, was charged with failure to maintain the proper lane.

The tractor-trailer was totaled.

It took all night to clean up the cheese, fuel and other wreckage caused by the crash, a state police spokesman said.

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