Semi truck crash on I-696 in Warren this morning

“Just a total mess.”

That’s how one witness describes the scene on westbound I-696 in Macomb County Tuesday.

A semi jack-knifed between Hoover and Van Dyke around 9:15 a.m. while many drivers were still making their way to work.

“It was horrific. There was nobody really moving and everybody was up here, and the same thing on the other side,” said Carl Thomas, a witness.

The freeway looked more like a parking lot with cars backed up for miles.

“I was about to get on 696 westbound and right before I got on it, it was bumper to bumper so I went around it,” said Nicholas Krajniak, a witness.

Michigan State Police are investigating the crash and trying to determine how and why it happened. They say the driver of the truck may have been slowing down to avoid a car broken down on the freeway.

The driver only suffered minor injuries.

Part of the median wall is broken due to the semi slamming into it.

“That's the first time I've ever seen something like that – having it hit the wall and knock the wall down like that,” said Thomas.

“I gave a silent prayer for the guy,” said Krajniak.