Route 1 southbound was reopened Friday after seven hours while emergency personnel responded to a 5:15 a.m. accident at Fieldsboro Road in Townsend, Delaware State Police said.
Police said the accident occured as John Dorey, 55, of Millsboro, was operating a 2000 Freightliner tractor and trailer and was traveling south on Route 1 in the right hand lane after pulling onto the roadway from the right hand shoulder. For an unknown reason, a 2000 UD box truck operated by Ian McPheeters, 24, of Wilmington and which was also traveling in the right hand lane, struck Dorey's vehicle in the rear.
McPheeters became trapped in the bed of his truck. It took responding emergency crews approximately 2 1/2 hours to free him. He was then transported by State Police helicopter to the Christiana Hospital where he was treated and admitted in critical but stable condition with multiple injuries.
Dorey was not injured.
The crash remains under investigation.
