The box stayed on the freeway. The cab went over the side.
That was the arrangement on Interstate 5 in San Diego’s Mission Hills neighborhood on Tuesday morning, Oct. 20, after a crash left a white moving truck draped across the concrete center divide. Its cargo box sat on one level of the split freeway. Its cab hung nose-down over the lanes on the other. According to San Diego Fire-Rescue, the cab was on fire when crews arrived.
Printed on the side of the box, in letters big enough to read in photos the fire department and the California Highway Patrol posted that morning, was the company’s slogan: “We Fit Your Moving Needs.”
Then somebody had to get out of the part that was hanging.
What the video shows
A bystander video, credited to Arash Samiei and distributed by Storyful, was shot from a car moving slowly through traffic on the lower roadway. It has since been widely shared. In it, the cab hangs at a steep angle from the top of a tall concrete wall, still attached to the box above. Small flames flicker near the spot where the truck meets the wall.
Below, several people stand on the pavement holding a dark blanket spread out between them. A uniformed CHP officer stands with them. A man in a red shirt works his way out of the cab and hangs by his hands beneath it, his feet dangling over the group.
The moment he lets go isn’t in the clip. A passing SUV blocks the camera’s view. A few seconds later he is standing on the roadway, and the officer has a hand on his arm. Nearby, a woman holds a red fire extinguisher.
The video doesn’t show whether the blanket was ever used. It does show that a group of strangers on an interstate decided to hold one up anyway.
Two men, two different exits
Two men were in the truck. Officials have described them leaving it in two very different ways.
A CHP spokesperson told NBC 7 San Diego that the driver was ejected into the lanes and that a passenger was helped out through a window. The agencies haven’t said publicly which man is the one seen climbing down in the video.
Both men ended up in the same place: not the hospital. San Diego Fire-Rescue said the two people from the truck were evaluated and didn’t need to be taken to a hospital, according to ABC 10News. NBC 7 reported that both declined medical care.
Fire officials said all four people in the sedan were taken to a hospital. Their conditions haven’t been released.
How the morning unfolded
According to the CHP, the collision between the truck and the sedan was reported at about 9:44 a.m. on northbound I-5 near the Washington Street off-ramp. The CHP said the impact sent the truck over the center divider. What caused the collision hasn’t been released.
At 10:28 a.m., CHP San Diego posted that northbound I-5 was closed south of Old Town Avenue, with all traffic diverted to Sassafras Street. Shortly after 11:30 a.m., San Diego Fire-Rescue said it had more than 25 people at the scene, including hazardous-materials, urban search-and-rescue and medic crews. They were working with the CHP and Caltrans to clean up spilled fuel and remove the truck.
Official accounts have used three different words for the vehicle: “semi,” “big rig” and “box truck.” The truck itself is more specific. The lettering on the cab door, visible in the video, includes a U.S. DOT number matching a federal motor-carrier record for Best Fit Movers, a San Diego company. Its fleet is registered as straight trucks, meaning the cab and the cargo box sit on a single frame instead of a tractor pulling a trailer.
That helps explain the photos. With no hitch to come apart, the truck didn’t separate at the wall. It folded there.
Eight hours of cleanup
Getting a truck off a wall takes longer than getting a person off one. Through the afternoon, the CHP posted a steady run of lane updates. By late morning, the left four northbound lanes and the left two southbound lanes south of Washington Street were closed. Southbound I-5 fully reopened at 4:20 p.m. The last northbound lanes reopened at 5:45 p.m., about eight hours after the first report.
The CHP is handling the investigation. As of Thursday, it hadn’t publicly named either driver or said whether anyone would be cited.
If you were stuck in traffic below a hanging truck cab, would you get out of your car to hold the blanket?
Top photo: The moving truck’s box rests on the I-5 center divide as its cab hangs over the edge near Washington Street in San Diego, Oct. 20, 2026. Photo: San Diego Fire-Rescue Department via X. Bystander video credited to Arash Samiei via Storyful.