A rollover wreck on a major Tulsa highway left a man in critical condition and forced the closure of southbound lanes for several hours early Saturday.

The crash happened shortly before 5:00 a.m. near the junction of U.S. 169 and E. 81st Street South.

Cpl. R.W. Solomon of the Tulsa Police Department tells KRMG a man driving at a high rate of speed lost control and flipped his vehicle several times.

Solomon says witnesses tell police the man was chasing another vehicle at the time of the wreck.

Several beer bottles were found in the man's vehicle, and he had the odor of alcohol about his person when EMSA and TFD paramedics worked on him, Solomon tells KRMG.

EMSA took the driver to St. Francis Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery; no update on his condition is available at this writing.

No other vehicles were involved, and no one else was hurt.

Police cleared the debris and reopened the highway roughly three hours after the crash.