Pedestrian, rollover crash snarl traffic on I-25 near El Paso/Pueblo county line

Two bizarre incidents caused traffic backups 10 miles apart Wednesday along Interstate 25, one in El Paso County and the other in Pueblo County.

Around 9:30 a.m., state troopers and Fountain police responded to a report of a pedestrian walking along the freeway in El Paso County, between the Nixon power plant and Pikes Peak International Raceway.
Pedestrians are prohibited on interstate highways.

Troopers said an unidentified man, dressed in black and carrying a backpack, ran away from them when they tried to approach him.

“He was darting in and out of traffic,” a trooper said.

Troopers apprehended the man in the freeway median. A paramedic team from Fountain took him to a hospital for evaluation.

No one was hurt.

Around 10 miles south on the interstate, in Pueblo County, a driver escaped serious injury when his vehicle rolled onto its side in the right southbound lane.

Authorities said the man was driving an Infinity/Comcast repair truck when two of its four rear wheels apparently came off, causing the axle to ram into the pavement and the vehicle rolled.

Traffic was reduced to one lane and remained backed up for several hours as troopers investigated the crash and a tow truck removed the damaged vehicle from the scene.