MESA, Ariz. (AP) – A police transport van crashed into another vehicle on a suburban Phoenix freeway, injuring 15 prisoners.
Mesa Fire Department officials say five inmates and the van’s driver suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the crash that happened around noon Wednesday. The 10 other prisoners have minor to moderate injuries.
Officials say another Mesa police employee was in the van when it crashed on U.S. 60 near the Loop 101, but that person wasn’t hurt.
Television footage shows the van collided with a construction company’s flatbed truck. Some of the prisoners were taken away on stretchers.
Fire officials say the cause of the crash isn’t immediately clear, but it shut down the westbound lanes of the freeway.