By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

The cause of a multi-vehicle crash Tuesday night on Interstate 85 that injured at least five people and sent three to the hospital is still under investigation, according to the N.C. Highway Patrol.

A silver vehicle was getting off the highway on exit 74 at Julian Road when he lost control, said First Sgt. F.J. Hargro. It’s not clear why the man lost control, but officials don’t anticipate that reason to be alcohol. The crash occurred around 10:30 p.m. in the southbound lanes.

Hargro assisted in response, but did not investigate the incident. Names were not immediately available Wednesday and the investigating trooper returns to work on Friday.

Hargro said the driver did give the Highway Patrol written consent to download information from his cell phone so that it can be analyzed to ensure he was not texting while driving.

The silver vehicle collided with a blue passenger vehicle that then sideswiped a UPS tractor trailer. All of the vehicles were in the second lane from the shoulder, Hargro explained, and the passengers were trying to get out of the way when a fourth vehicle traveling in the southbound lane struck them.

The vehicle’s driver didn’t see them sitting in the road at an angle an hit in the back of the blue vehicle, Hargro said.

The male driver in the silver vehicle sustained some facial injuries, possibly from the debris in the road or from the crash itself, Hargo said.

The two passenger car drivers in the roadway were getting out and figuring out what happened when they were struck.

Everyone was taken to Carolinas Medical Center NorthEast, but two women involved in the crash were taken to CMC Main in Charlotte for broken bones.

Hargro recommends anyone who is ever in a disabled vehicle on the interstate to get out of the roadway immediately following a collision.

“If the car is disabled it’s not safe sitting in it. The best thing is to get way off on the shoulder, dial 911 or use flares if you have them,” he said.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.