UPS driver injured after semi flips on Interstate 80

IOWA CITY - An eastbound UPS semi, transporting small packages, crashed into a ditch and caused the driver to be transported to the hospital Thursday morning.

The semi was eastbound on Interstate 80 in Iowa City, about half of a mile east of the Dodge Street exit, when it tipped into a ditch, rolling almost entirely onto its top. Iowa City Police and Fire, Johnson County Secondary Roads as well as Iowa State Patrol were dispatched at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

The driver, a 36-year employee of UPS, was swiftly taken to a nearby hospital by Johnson County Ambulance where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries. According to Iowa City police Sgt. Denise Brotherton, he had escaped from the wreck and was walking around by time responders arrived.

According to UPS Spokesperson Susan Rosenberg, the driver, an Omaha man, has a 24-year-long safe driving record with the company.

The truck, trailer and axles were severely damaged. Iowa City fire fighters re-routed large amounts of oil spilling from the truck onto a plastic tarp and into a shallow plastic tub.

As of 3 p.m., Rosenberg said authorities were still working to get the trailer from the muddy ditch.

Rosenberg said the company is aware of all the packages on board, as they were electronically entered in their system when they were loaded into the trailer. But it is unknown if all of the packages have been recovered.

She said the semi, which had originated in Omaha, might have been en route to Davenport, and then beyond Iowa. UPS is still at the front-end of their peak season, Rosenberg said, so some of the packages might have just been delayed one day.

“In the scheme of things we handle mire than 15 million packages everyday,” she said, noting this is considered to be an isolated incident.

Authorities said the cause of the crash remains under investigation.