Posted on 08/26/2025 8:57:02 PM PDT by grundle
WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — Raleigh May Cupples was driving across the I-55 bridge Tuesday when the vehicle in front of her changed lanes – and she saw a semi-truck driving in her direction.
The incident was reported Tuesday morning by KARK, with the flow of traffic stopped after a semi-truck drove down the wrong lane on the Memphis-Arkansas bridge. By 11 AM, traffic reportedly resumed.
“I live in Crittenden County, and I was headed to Southhaven to go to work,” Cupples said. “I usually cross the bridge four times a week, minimum.”
Vehicles slowed down, leaving Raleigh to assume a wreck had occurred. Traffic stopped for about five minutes before she said it finally started moving. Her car was behind a different semi-truck, which changed into the right lane, giving her a view of what was slowing things down.
“The big truck gets over in the right lane, and that’s when I see that truck,” Raleigh said. “My first thought was, is this a truck hooked up to another truck pulling it?”
Video taken shortly before shows the semi-truck was actually driving down the wrong lane of traffic.
Arkansas State Police arrived on the scene. By this point, Raleigh said they were on the Tennessee side of the bridge. The trooper jumped the median with his weapon drawn, she said. She began recording video at this point. The trooper holstered his weapon, jumped down from the barrier, and went to the driver’s side of the cab.
From there, the officer opened the door and attempted to get the driver to exit the vehicle. Raleigh said the man refused. The trooper tried to pull the man out of the vehicle, but it appears in the video that the man resisted. A second trooper arrives with a rifle, and a third officer also shows up with a gun drawn. With multiple officers working together, they pull the man out of the vehicle and take him to the ground.
“They handled it very well,” Raleigh said. “I feel like the officers did what they had to do to get him out of the truck. I don’t think they used excessive force. The man refused to get out, for whatever reason.”
After he was detained, Raleigh said it was probably not longer than five minutes before traffic resumed.
“I’m still baffled why he got on that bridge,” Raleigh said.
No information has been released by authorities about the suspect, potential charges, or the incident thus far. Inmate rosters for both Crittenden County and Shelby County do not appear to show an arrest as of the publication of this report.
NEA Report has requested more information from the Arkansas State Police about the incident. It will be added to this story when received.
I had some guys out of Golan Heights Trucking deliver some stuff. They couldn’t back around a gentle curve and chose to carry several items a couple of hundred yards rather than back up.
I had another guy who came to the SF north Bay Area to deliver a flatbed of sack concrete. He said he came from New Mexico. He spoke little English and had no plates, no name on the truck, no CA, MA, DOT, nothing. He couldn’t back the truck either and was scared to go down a gravel road.
There are a lot of these guys around.
Another illiterate dot Indian...?
Looks like it sustained damage to the right side of the hood and the mirror. weird.
There’s a bunch of them named Turban. Turban Transport, Turban Trucking, Blue Turban, etc.
If he can't pass it - he was a fraud.
If he does pass it - he's shown he's a sociopath who didn't care enough about the risk of injury or death to others.
reminds me of a box truck apprehended full of illegals in san diego by the border patrol..on the side it had painted APollo Delivery Service \ slight spacing between the A and Pollo. Pollo (chicken) at the border is slang for illegal aliens, “chickens” as they run around like chickens...thus illegal alien delivery service.
Exceedingly scary. My daughter is driving her RV hundreds of miles this week with two friends and four dogs inside. Spokane to Oregon coast. And back/
Please pray for Katy.
I hate that bridge and will not drive through Memphis willingly ever again.
I was West bound with pickup, 24’ gooseneck and a 13,000 lb loader when a dump truck came flying over the bridge, swerved in front of me to take the 55 North bound exit, hit a bump and the duals on the dump trailer went airborne and I swear they went over the hood of my pickup.
Never again, that was the trip from hell with 5 more significant events concluding with a baby on the highway as I topped the hill 4 miles from the farm. Guy got the baby in the nick of time and I was headed for the ditches with no place to go. Just to top it off, I put a low hanging limb through the windshield of the loader as I was headed for the barn.
U-Ship from now on for long haul of anything that heavy. That was like 14 oe 15 years ago. I can’t imagine now.
It astonishes me that these immigrant or illegal alien owned companies stupidly choose names that fail to blend instead of choosing generic American names.
They are sly enough when it comes to creating stacks of shell companies to avoid liability for the accidents their crappy illegal drivers but completely lacking imagination when naming their companies.
Big problem in Ontario now, also.
Commercial vehicle accidents up 40%, and the comments on the story indirectly tell who they are who are causing it.
https://www.trucknews.com/health-safety/cmv-linked-fatal-crashes-on-the-rise-in-ontario/1003152183/
They don’t need to bother with generic “American” names.
They are going to be the whole industry, soon.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sikh-indian-americans-becoming-truckers-mintu-pandher-laramie-wyoming/
Native Indians do learn to drive on the wrong side of the road, being the inhabitants of ex-British colonies.
I am in North West Wisconsin and recently applied at a gas station/truck stop. I had the opportunity to shadow the clerk for an hour to see if I would be interested in the position. In that hour time I did not encounter one truck driver that could speak English fluently. Many could barely speak English and those that did had a thick accent making it difficult to understand. Most appeared Arab or Hispanic.
It infuriates me to think we are sharing the road with truckers driving a vehicle weighing 10’s of thousands of pounds who can’t read road signs or achieved a CDL they don’t qualify for.
Feds are going to have to fine very heavily and/or prosecute the rogue trucking companies hiring illiterate Illegals as their drivers.
I drive a truck and definitely notice a LOT more maniacs on the road here in New York and up and down the east coast. The speed limit could be 65 mph and it’s raining, and it’s dark, and here comes an 80,000 lbs tractor trailer going 95 mph passing me like I’m standing still, these guys are insane. Then when they have accidents traffic is backed up for miles for hours and I’m seeing a LOT of those as well, trucks that take turns too fast and tip over. I don’t know why cops dont pull them over but I assume it’s because they are defunded. They’ll have weigh stations, inspection stations, every 3 feet to give out tickets but truckers driving like psychopaths is OK
If ya don’t like the way I drive, then stay off the sidewalks lol.
All of this makes self driving trucks look better and better.
What is Punjabi or Hindu for “No Habla Ingles!”?
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