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The driver of a tractor-trailer that overturned and backed up Interstate 81 near Carlisle Wednesday lost control of the vehicle after choking on some coffee, state police said.

Richard Francis, 61, was driving south on the interstate when he took the offending sip of coffee near Exit 44 at about 3:12 p.m., state police reported. Francis was trying to pull off the roadway onto the right shoulder to settle himself when the vehicle slid into the grass off the shoulder and struck a wire fence, police said.