Tuesday just past midnight, a large box truck rear-ended an RV – filled with more than two dozen snakes – heading from South Carolina to Pennsylvania on Interstate 95 in Wilson County.
The crash happened near N. Springfield School Road north of Kenly.
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Inside the RV were five people, 28 snakes, two tortoises, five Bearded Dragons, two dogs and a cat.
"In 19 years, I've never seen anything like this," a North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper told WRAL News.
Clayton Barfield was one of the first to arrive at the scene. He said it's one of the weirdest scenes he's encountered in 16 years of towing cars.
"When I woke up at 1:30 a.m., I never thought that would be the phone call," Barfield said. "I would say this is in the top 10 of 'different.'"
At least one of the snakes was a small, highly venomous viper, which became loose in the RV during the crash. The owner was able to catch the snake prior to EMS workers arriving.
No one in the RV was hurt; all of the animals survived.
"I have a bunch of reptiles, I do reptile expos," said the man driving the RV. "I had some venomous snakes get loose in the camper when this accident happened so I had to get the snakes before the EMS personnel came in because I didn't want to put them at risk. I successfully got them."
Barfield said he did not step in until after all the animals were secured. He said the real shocker came when the owner came to collect one last snake Tuesday morning from the tow lot.
"I do not like snakes," Barfield said. "I do not like snakes at all."
The RV was towing a Jeep Cherokee, which was crushed by the impact and forced into the rear bedroom of the RV where one of the family's sons was sleeping at the time; he was not seriously injured.
The driver of the truck was seriously injured and transported to WakeMed in Raleigh. Authorities believe he fell asleep at the wheel prior to the collision.
WRAL News is working to learn whether he will face any charges.