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Truck Loaded With French Fries Rolls Over On I-80

LAKE STATION, Ind. (CBS) -- A semi-tractor trailer truck hauling a load of French fries rolled over while trying to exit I-80 in northwest Indiana on Thursday.

Indiana State Police said the truck driver lost control on the exit ramp from eastbound I-80 onto northbound Ripley Street in Lake Station, Ind., around 12:45 p.m.

The driver, 30-year-old Jason Antar, of Pennsylvania, told police was exiting the interstate when he was cut off by a car.

Police said that evidence showed the truck was going too fast for the curve in the ramp and flipped onto its driver's side.

The semi – a 2009 Freightliner owned by New Prime Inc. in Springfield, Mo. – was loaded with about 20 tons of French fries in its box trailer, according to police.

The driver was taken to Saint Mary's Medical Center in Hobart with cuts and abrations.

A second truck driver, 54-year-old Jose J. Velazquez of Pennsylvania, was in the sleeper berth at the time of the crash. Fire crews from Lake Station had to free him from the truck. He was also taken to Saint Mary's with neck and back pain.

Antar was cited for driving too fast to avoid a collision.

Police said the ramp from eastbound I-80 to northbound Ripley would be closed for approximately four hours after the crash to clean up the wreck.

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