Woman, two children killed in Union City accident

A woman and two children were killed Saturday, and a teenager critically injured, after a motorist pulled a car onto a busy four-lane highway and was struck broadside by a sport utility vehicle in Union City, police said.

A Chevrolet Tahoe going east on South Fulton Parkway hit a Chevrolet Lumina turning into traffic from Mason Road about 5 p.m., Union City police spokesman George Louth said.

“This is the worst [auto] fatality I can remember,” said Louth, who has been with the Union City police nearly two decades. “The Lumina was struck square broadside.”

Two children in the Lumina were dead on the scene, he said. The youngsters, both girls, were ages 5 and 12, he said.

A 36-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl in the Lumina were airlifted in critical condition to Atlanta Medical Center. The woman died in the emergency room, Louth said. The teenager remained in critical condition as of 7 a.m. Sunday.

The driver of the Tahoe was taken by ambulance to South Fulton Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. The identities of the victims were not released, pending notification of family members.

The speed limit on South Fulton Parkway is 55 mph, and the eastbound and westbound lanes of the four-lane road are separated by a grassy median.

“There’s not a blind spot,” Louth said, but he added that “it is difficult to see” for drivers crossing South Fulton’s westbound lane to turn left into eastbound traffic from Mason.

He said Union City and Georgia Department of Transportation officials have at some point looked into putting up traffic lights at the busy intersection, with also accommodates industrial traffic and tractor-trailers. Police were continuing to investigate the accident Sunday morning.

Staff writer Marcus K. Garner contributed to this report.