1 dead, 1 critical in Schuylkill Expressway crash

As a produce trucker barreled around the Schuylkill Expressway's Conshohocken curve late in yesterday morning's rush hour, what he could not see would prove tragic.

Just ahead and out of the curve, the glare of a sunny winter morning had slowed a line of eastbound cars on the expressway to a stop-and-start pace. The trucker, hauling broccoli toward Philadelphia, couldn't match the change in speed, state police said, and plowed into the line of creeping traffic about 9:25 a.m.

One person was killed and another seriously injured in a pile-up involving the truck and five other vehicles.

"In the course of the crash, an automobile became pinned under both the tractor-trailer and an SUV," a state police news release said.

Dead was David Schreffler, 49, of Fort Washington, the driver of the pinned car, a 1997 Infiniti sedan, police said. His passenger, identified as Joseph John Maylish, 53, of Media, was airlifted to Temple University Hospital in critical condition.

No one else was reported hurt.

Traffic each way on the perpetually clogged expressway was halted for up to three hours, stranding hundreds of motorists while authorities dealt with the carnage.

State police identified the truck driver as Valerijs Belovs, 55, of Philadelphia.

"At this time," the release said, "no charges have been pressed and this case continues pending further investigation."

Trooper Danea Alston said the truck driver was taken to a hospital for a blood test and then released. She would not identify his trucking company.

Shortly before noon, traffic in one lane was creeping through on the eastbound expressway. Alerts warned drivers to stay away, but some motorists were stuck in the two-mile stretch between the Conshohocken exit and the accident scene. State police reopened both eastbound lanes at 4:30 p.m., seven hours after the accident.

Westbound traffic was tied up for miles as authorities shut down the road near the scene for about an hour before opening one lane.

Five vehicles, including the truck, were towed from the scene.