Alcohol believed to be factor in fatal I-20 wreck

By Mike Morris and Mashaun D. Simon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DeKalb County detectives believe alcohol may have had something to do with an early morning accident Thursday that shut down the westbound lanes of I-20 and left one man dead.

Timothy J. Babineau, 41, was killed Thursday morning when he was struck by a tractor-trailer and killed. Moments earlier, he had hit another tractor-trailer and stepped out of his Jeep to inspect the damage, DeKalb spokesman Jason Gagnon said.

Police believe he may have been under the influence of alcohol.

DeKalb police dispatchers said the I-20 incident happened about 4 a.m. at Turner Hill Road.

Babineau was killed instantly.

Alisa Scaife was on her way to work at Frito-Lay when she witnessed the incident.

"The Jeep had hit this first tractor-trailer, and apparently, he was still in the road," when the second truck came along and struck the Jeep and its driver, Scaife said.

All westbound lanes remained closed until just before 7:30 a.m., when the interstate was reopened.

In Atlanta, Andemariam Tesfamicael was killed when another driver collided with Tesfamicael's car after losing control on I-75/85 southbound before Langford Parkway.

The incident occurred around 5:50 Thursday morning.

Patrick Lloyd was attempting to change lanes when he lost control of the vehicle as he approached Ga. 166 on I-75 southbound.

His vehicle crossed several lanes and entered Tesfamicael's lane, killing Tesfamicael at the scene.

Lloyd was transported with non-life-threatening injuries and later charged with improper lane change and second-degree vehicular homicide.

--Staff photographer John Spink contributed to this report.