NEW DETAILS: Police ID 3 victims in fatal Union City wreck

Authorities closed South Fulton Parkway for hours early Thursday morning to investigate a deadly crash, according to Union City police.

Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM

Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM

Authorities closed South Fulton Parkway for hours early Thursday morning to investigate a deadly crash, according to Union City police.

Union City police on Friday identified the three people involved in a crash that left two men dead and a woman with critical injuries.

The single-car wreck occurred Thursday morning, shutting down a major roadway for more than six hours, authorities said. Union City police notified the Georgia State Patrol about the crash on South Fulton Parkway between Derrick and Stonewall Tell roads about 4 a.m., the state agency said in an emailed statement.

According to the GSP, a 2015 Kia Optima was traveling eastbound on South Fulton Parkway, entered the median of the roadway and hit several trees. It is not clear why the Kia left the roadway.

“As the vehicle struck the trees, it rotated counterclockwise,” the agency said in an emailed statement. “While in rotation, the back seat section of the vehicle separated.”

The driver, 24-year-old Julius Antwan Vickers of Grayson, and the back-seat passenger, 25-year-old Kemoni Lavarous Watts of Atlanta, were ejected from the Kia and pronounced dead on the scene, according to officials. The driver’s sister, 33-year-old Cherina Denise Vickers of Grayson, was sitting in the front passenger seat during the crash. She was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

Lanes did not start reopening until 9:30 a.m. Another hour passed before the rest of South Fulton Parkway reopened.

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Channel 2's Audrey Washington reports.