WASHINGTON – Call the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway the fruit loop after a tractor-trailer accident dumped produce onto the highway and slowed traffic Tuesday morning.
Four vehicles collided around 8 a.m. in the westbound lanes of Interstate 495 just west of the Van Dorn Street exit.
The accident occurred when a Ford Fusion crashed into a tree-trimming truck while attempting to change lanes. The driver of the truck lost control and hit a tractor-trailer, which then ran off the left side of the road and eventually hit an SUV.
As the tractor-trailer overturned, it spilled cucumbers across the Beltway.
The driver of that vehicle was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. None of the three children traveling with the driver were injured.
Ammar A. Alshakarchi, 26, of Alexandria, who was driving the Ford Fusion suffered serious, but non-life threatening injuries. He is being charged with making an improper lane change.
The driver of the SUV and all of the people riding in the tree-trimming truck escaped without injury.
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