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SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — A pair of accidents along Interstate 40 near Canada Road in the Lakeland area early Wednesday morning left one person dead and several others injured.

According to the crash report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, two trucks were traveling westbound on I-40 around 1:45 a.m. when one of them hit the other from behind. The impact caused the cab of one of the vehicles to come off of the chassis before coming to a rest in the median.

The two drivers and a passenger in the impacted vehicle were all taken to the Regional Medical Center. The passenger later had a heart attack and died.

While responding to the accident, a Shelby County ambulance hit a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office cruiser and a vehicle that belongs to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the spokesperson said.

Two first responders on the ambulance were injured.

It took crews hours to investigate, backing up traffic for miles. This may have all started in the Westbound lanes, but by 6:30 a.m. there was a major slowdown in the eastbound lanes.

Police said charges are pending against the driver of the ambulance, identified by Tennessee Highway Patrol as Matthew Christianson.

Charges are also pending against the driver in the first accident, identified by THP as Daniel Barksdale of Antioch, Tennessee, He told officers he must’ve blacked out before the wreck.

The two accidents left I-40 shut down for hours. It was eventually reopened shortly before 8:30 a.m.

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