Alcohol, speed might have caused fatal Clayton wreck

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two early morning wrecks, one involving a fatality and the other an overturned tanker truck, caused delays Thursday for metro Atlanta motorists.

The fatal crash happened about 4:30 a.m. on I-75 southbound between Forest Parkway and Tara Boulevard in Clayton County.

A pickup truck hit a guard rail and the right rear side of a tractor-trailer. The pickup flipped, ejecting both occupants and killing one. The survivor was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition. The driver of a tractor-trailer suffered minor injuries.

Clayton County police said speed and alcohol may have been contributing factors. As of 1 p.m., the victims had not been identified.

All southbound lanes of I-75 were blocked for more than an hour but most lanes reopened around 5:30.

In south Fulton County, a tanker truck overturned and caught fire on Fulton Industrial Bouelevard at Marvin Miller Drive just before 4 a.m.

The fire had been extinguished at 5:15 a.m., but a large fuel spill remained, according to Paul Marshall, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. No injuries were reported.

All lanes of Fulton Industrial were shut down in both directions just south of I-20 for several hours.

At 7:40 a.m., the DOT reported that all northbound lanes had reopened, but one southbound lane remained closed.

-- Staff writer Larry Hartstein contributed to this report.