Wrecks snarl Berwick traffic

Two accidents snarled traffic through Berwick Tuesday evening.
At 4:08 p.m., Berwick Police Chief James Richard said his department received a call reporting an accident in which a box truck flipped over on the U.S. 90 exit ramp into Berwick.
The single vehicle accident was caused by the driver, Hui Xiao, 28, of Amite, exiting the ramp too quickly as he lost control and the truck overturned, Richard said.
No injuries were reported. Xiao was cited with careless operation with a crash. An 18-wheeler wrecker was used to flip the truck upright, the chief said.
Because of where the truck flipped over, traffic was not stopped.
However, a second wreck that occurred at 5:44 p.m. as the first one was being cleaned up further slowed traffic.
Richard said that at 5:44 p.m., a Morgan City police officer en route to assist Berwick with traffic control witnessed a black SUV abruptly stop in the right westbound lane of U.S. 90.
That caused the five cars behind it to run into each other, Richard said.
The Morgan City officer instructed the SUV driver to pull over, but when the officer was checking on the other drivers, the SUV, which was not struck, left the scene, he said.
The chief said no citations were issued to the other five drivers, and no injuries were reported.
The vehicles were cleared from the scene about an hour later, according to Richard.