photo by: Dylan Lysen

A wrecked truck lies on the property of a business in North Lawrence. A man driving the vehicle appeared to be injured in the wreck, according to multiple witnesses.

A man was severely injured in a single-vehicle wreck in North Lawrence Friday afternoon.

The wreck on North Third Street happened at about 3:20 p.m., Jenn Hethcoat, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email to the Journal-World. At the scene of the wreck, a Journal-World reporter saw a wrecked truck on the property of Advantage Metals Recycling, 1545 N. Third St.

According to multiple witnesses, the vehicle was heading north on North Third Street when it veered off the roadway into the grass adjacent to the road. The driver of the car appeared to overcorrect the vehicle back onto the roadway but lost control, they said.

The vehicle then rolled several times across the street, crashing into a wooden fence on the other side of the roadway and caving in part of the cab of the truck.

The witnesses said the driver was the only person in the vehicle, and he appeared to have a bloody arm. They said the rest of his body was not visible. Emergency crews were seen loading someone into an ambulance near the site of the wreck. A helicopter was called to the Lawrence Municipal Airport to transport the man for medical treatment.

The man was taken to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., with suspected life-threatening injuries, Hethcoat said.

The accident closed part of North Third Street, and some traffic was being diverted through the I-70 Business Center parking lot. The closure included northbound lanes from I-70 to Teepee Junction. The roadway was open to traffic again by around 8 p.m.

Hethcoat said the incident is still under investigation and she could not provide any further details.