Two people died in central Oregon Monday after crashing into a semitrailer that was blocking both lanes of US-20 in Deschutes County, Oregon State Police said.

State police arrested the semi driver, Rajinder Kumar, on suspicion of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, the agency said in a news release.

The semi, facing east, had jackknifed its trailer perpendicular to the westbound lane when William Micah Carter, a 25-year-old from Springfield, hit the trailer at highway speed around 9:30 p.m., state police said. Carter and his passenger, 24-year-old Jennifer Lynn Lower of John Day, died at the scene.

Police suspect that the darkness and “a lack of active emergency warning equipment,” played a role in the crash.

Kumar, a 32-year-old from Fresno, California, was un

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