Photo shows a semi-truck that crashed with a Chevy pickup that cut in front of it.
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Crash photo doesn’t show vehicle that cut in front of a semi-truck
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- The photo does not show a tractor-trailer running over a pickup truck that cut in front of it. Instead it shows a tractor-trailer that ran over a pickup truck after it was hit from behind by another tractor-trailer.
An unnerving photo of a vehicle crumpled under a semi-truck is being shared on social media with a warning: "The next time you decide to cut in front of that 80,000 lb semi, remember: this was once a 4-door Chevy pickup."
The photo is authentic, but it doesn’t show a pickup truck that cut off a semi.
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
In September 2016, WSB-TV, a news station in Atlanta, aired images from a crash involving four tractor-trailers on Interstate 20 in Carroll County, Georgia.
Georgia State Patrol said at the time that a tractor-trailer ran into the back of a second tractor-trailer, according to the station. The second tractor-trailer then drove over a silver pickup truck, crushing it, and ran into a third tractor-trailer. The third tractor trailer then hit a fourth one.
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The person driving the pickup and a passenger were killed in the crash.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the same narrative.
"The deadly chain reaction started when a tractor-trailer headed eastbound struck a second tractor-trailer, which then struck the silver pickup truck, killing the driver and passenger," the newspaper said.
The photo suggests this is what happens to smaller vehicles that cut in front of big trucks on the highway. But this was no ordinary collison; it involved multiple vehicles that are not all pictured.
We rate claims that this photo shows a pickup truck that cut in front of a semi-truck Mostly False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, June 15, 2021
WSB-TV, 4 tractor-trailers involved in accident on I-20; 2 people killed, Sept. 1, 2016
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4-truck crash kills 2, blocks I-20 east in Carroll County, Sept. 24, 2016
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Crash photo doesn’t show vehicle that cut in front of a semi-truck
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