Officials seek passenger in Monday I-10 crash

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ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office is looking to locate a man witnesses say fled the scene of an accident Monday afternoon on Interstate 10 near the Wilcox Exit.

According to Lt. Joe Piggott with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Alabama State Troopers were called to the scene at about 2:05 p.m. Monday, where a Ford Expedition and a tractor-trailer rig were driving westbound on Interstate 10 between the 51 and 52 mile markers of I-10, just west of the Wilcox Road (County Road 64) exit.

The tractor trailer rig reportedly rear-ended the Ford Expedition, which lost control left the interstate and overturned, Piggott said.

“There were reports of fires at the scene,” he said, “but as far as we know, the fires were quickly put out.”

The driver and a passenger of the Expedition were both transported by helicopter to University Hospital in Mobile. According to published reports, they suffered critical injuries.

Capt. Clint Cadenhead with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Command said Wednesday that witnesses at the scene reported while there were two people inside the vehicle, there was a third passenger located outside the vehicle.

“There were good Samaritans on scene trying to put out some fires at the scene,” Cadenhead said. “When they stopped to help the man, they said he took off across the interstate and ran into the woods.”

Other witnesses say they saw the man, described as a young Hispanic male wearing a black T-shirt, in the area of Northcutt Lane off of County Road 64 near the Wilcox Exit.

“One witness said the man asked for a ride,” Cadenhead said, “but they noticed the police presence in the area, thought something was suspicious and declined transportation.”

Cadenhead said they do not have any information as to the man’s identity or why he might have fled the scene. While he did not show any outward signs of injury, Cadenhead said, one of their biggest concerns is that he might have been hurt in the crash.

“Usually in cases like this, when things settle down and law enforcement leaves the scene, people like this have a tendency to just pop up, but that has not happened in this case,” he said. “At this point, a couple of days after the accident, we believe that he did get a ride somewhere and is no longer in the area.”

The driver of the tractor-trailer rig was apparently uninjured in the crash. No names have been reported and Alabama State Troopers continue to investigate the crash.

If you have information as to the identity or whereabouts of the other passenger, you can call the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department’s dispatch at 251-937-0202 or call 911, Cadenhead said.