Prisoner transport vehicle overturns on I-40 in Durham

DURHAM, N.C. — A detention officer with the Wake County Sheriff's Office was transporting a prisoner from Alamance County Monday night when he wrecked on Interstate 40 in Durham County, authorities said.

A car traveling east on the interstate got onto the exit ramp for the Durham Freeway shortly before 10:30 p.m., but the driver, Prometheus Solon, 18, of Hillsborough, then reconsidered and tried to reenter I-40, troopers said.  While trying to merge back on to the interstate, Solon lost control, slid across all lanes of traffic and hit a guardrail. The car came to rest in the left lane without its lights on. Detention officer Benjamin Michael Palmer, 28, of Cary, was driving a prisoner transport vehicle when he came upon the wreck. He swerved to avoid hitting the wrecked car, lost control, ran off the road and down an embankment, and then overturned, troopers said. The vehicle landed on its roof. Only the officer and one prisoner, David Wayne Morrow, 45, were in the vehicle at the time. Both were bruised in the crash and taken to Rex Hospital for treatment. Solon was charged with an unsafe moving violation.  All eastbound lanes of the interstate near the Durham Freeway exit ramp were closed while authorities were at the scene. They reopened around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday.