Trucker in triple-fatal interstate crash had been drinking, tried to flee: cops

The truck driver who drove into a line of slowed traffic on Interstate 83 near Harrisburg on Friday evening had consumed five double-shot margaritas and two to three beers at a New Jersey restaurant earlier in the day, according to state police.

Jack Satterfield III, 29, of McComb, Miss. faces charges including homicide by vehicle and DUI in the crash that killed three people and injured six, according to state police. As of Monday morning he was in Dauphin County Prison.

He also didn't have a valid commercial driver's license, police said.

The crash involving 11 vehicles happened in the northbound lanes near the Union Deposit Road exit in Lower Paxton Township at 8:30 p.m. Killed were Zachary Lybrand, 24, of Middletown; Ethan VanBochoven, 22, of Pompton Plains, N.J., who was a Messiah College student; and a 18-month-old girl who hadn't been identified as of early Monday.

According to arrest documents, Satterfield told police he saw the slowed traffic at the last minute and was unable to slow down in time. He told police that, following the crash, he left his truck, crossed the highway, hopped a fence and ran to a hotel parking lot, where he watched the crash scene, the documents state.

Police wrote that he later voluntarily submitted to a breath test which showed him to be over the legal limit for alcohol.

Below are the arrest documents.

Triple fatal crash affidavit by on Scribd

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