Thursday morning, 43-year-old truck driver Eri Pleitez, of Lynn, Ma, was apparently driving drunk when he rolled his tractor trailer, bringing down a utility pole, power lines, a transformer and a guardrail.
Pleitez was cut off by a black pickup truck, causing the truck to roll over onto its side. He was hauling 38,000 lbs of dairy products. Mostly cheese.
The crash happened on the Southeast Expressway (I-93) at Exit 10 on the southbound side of the highway near Squantum Street around 1:30 a.m.
The accident caused major delays as part of I-93 was shut down around Milton.
Pleitez was arrested and charged with OUI, negligent operation of a vehicle and a marked lanes violation after he failed a field sobriety test and “had trouble counting”.
According to prosecuters, Pleitez said he drank six beers.
“He only had a couple of beers because it was a friend’s birthday,” a friend of Pleitez told WBZ NewsRadio outside of court. “He wasn’t really that drunk. The guy’s got kids, he owns his own truck.”
I don’t think the trucker’s friend is really helping matters here.
Pleitez was not injured in the crash. The condition of the cheese is unknown.