CALDWELL, Idaho — Idaho State Police are continuing to investigate an 11-vehicle crash on Interstate 84, near milepost 21.5, that blocked all eastbound lanes for most of Friday
The crash was reported just before 4 p.m. and took emergency crews seven hours to reopen the interstate.
Police say nine vehicles and two semi-trucks, one of which was hauling cars, were involved in the crash. One of the seven other vehicles was a Payette County ambulance.
Idaho State Police say five people were hospitalized but did not state how serious any of their injuries are or their current status.
Investigators say the crash happened when Joesph Bryant, a 49-year-old Utah man, driving a 2016 Volvo semi-truck with a fully-loaded car hauler, failed to slow down with traffic and crashed into a flatbed semi-truck, driven by 67-year-old Steven Hale of Nampa. The crash caused the flatbed semi-truck to jack-knife, which then started the chain-reaction crash.
Hale was taken by air ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
Byrant and 63-year-old Douglas Jones, of Chattaroy, WA, were taken to St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Nampa.
Elyse Humphreys, 24 of Meridian, was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. 41-year-old Eric Neiswanger, of Jackson, WY, was transported to West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell.
Idaho State Police is continuing to investigate the crash.
