Wrong-way driver killed in crash on I-85 in DeKalb

A wrong-way driver was killed early Friday in a violent two-vehicle crash on I-85 South in DeKalb County, police said.

The driver was identified as Juan Cisneros Alvarez, 23, of Atlanta, according to the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s office.

Officers were initially dispatched to a crash at Chamblee Tucker Road about 5 a.m., DeKalb police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell said.

“The driver was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes,” she said.

Authorities didn’t find Alvarez until a few minutes later when Tucker police officers were dispatched to an accident with injuries at Pleasantdale Road.

That’s when they found Alvarez dead on the scene, Campbell said.

The other driver in the crash had minor injuries, according to police.

The incident blocked multiple lanes of I-85 South at Pleasantdale Road and caused heavy delays in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties for hours. At one point, the trip time from Ga. 316 to I-285 was 119 minutes, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

Lanes reopened just before 8:20 a.m.

» For updated traffic information, listen to News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB and follow @ajcwsbtraffic on Twitter.

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