Big rig driver crashes into overpass pillar on I-10

A truck driver is recovering Thursday following an overnight wreck east of the Coachella Valley.

Officers with the California Highway Patrol said a 61-year-old Magdaleno Perez of El Centro crashed his big rig along Interstate 10 at Box Canyon Road Wednesday at 8 p.m. Investigators said Perez drifted off the road in the westbound lanes and into the center median.

KESQ’s Karen Devine recently investigated the dangerous stretch of road near Desert Center, which is seeing a large increase in crashes over the past year.

The CHP said Perez’s truck struck a concrete pillar underneath the Box Canyon Road overpass. The impact spilled the truck’s contents onto the eastbound lanes of I-10 which caused a closure throughout the entire night.

Authorities don’t believe drugs or alcohol were involved. Perez was wearing a seat belt.