SALISBURY — N.C. State Highway Patrol troopers are continuing to investigate a June 8 nighttime collision on Interstate 85 when a Kannapolis man crashed his vehicle and was killed after he crossed into the path of interstate traffic.

Hector Lopez Pesina Jr., 26, was traveling in a 2007 Hyundai at a dead-end at Truck Avenue, off Julian Road, when he struck a culvert about 4o to 50 feet from the interstate, said Sgt. David Morgan.

Pesina got out of his vehicle, climbed over the concrete barrier and attempted to cross the southbound lanes of I-85, Morgan said.

The tractor-trailer, of EPES Transport Systems, was being driven by 57-year-old Douglas Hudspeth of Grayson, Ga. There’s no indication that Hudspeth was speeding, Morgan said.

The crash occurred around 11:46 p.m. north of Julian Road. Hudspeth believed he’d struck a deer and got out to check and saw that he’d struck a person. He called 911, Morgan said.

Troopers are awaiting Pesina’s toxicology results. Trooper B. Freeze investigated the crash.