PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — A dump truck driver was charged in connection to an accident that killed a Richmond tractor-trailer driver on Interstate 95.
Police identified the tractor-trailer driver killed in Friday night’s crash as Anthony T. Coppedge, 59, of Oster Drive in Richmond. Coppedge was pronounced dead at the Prince William County crash scene.
“Virginia State Police received a call from a motorist about a disabled dump truck blocking the middle northbound lane of I-95 at the 149 mile marker,” Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller wrote in an email. “A trooper was immediately dispatched to assist the truck; however, within two minutes of the first call being received, a northbound tractor-trailer struck the dump truck. The impact of the crash caused both vehicles to overturn.”
The dump truck driver, identified as 29-year-old Charles L. Tate, of Colonial Beach, Va., was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police charged Tate with operating a truck with defective equipment. His dump truck’s power train and lights were defective, police said.
Both Coppedge and Tate were wearing seat belts.
The crash kept northbound lanes of I-95 closed into early Saturday morning.
