2 dead after tractor-trailer veers off I-40, travels into creek

Two men died after the tractor-trailer in which they were traveling left Interstate 40 and drove into a creek, colliding with a tree in Franklin County early Thursday, state police said.

A 2001 Volvo VN was heading east on I-40 near Dirty Creek around 3 a.m., according to an Arkansas State Police report.

The tractor-trailer left the roadway and struck a guardrail, then drove off an embankment and into a creek where it hit a tree, police said.

Both the driver, 52-year-old Larry Brooks of Morganton, N.C., and a passenger, 54-year-old Michael McPeters of Lenoir, N.C., suffered fatal injuries, police said.

No one else was reported hurt in the wreck.

Conditions were said to be clear and dry at the time.

Including Brooks and McPeters, at least 330 people have died on state roads in 2017, according to preliminary data.

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