A Coweta County man is facing serious charges after authorities said he was driving under the influence Tuesday when he crashed his truck into slow-moving traffic on I-85, killing one person.
Robert Clyde Kittinger Jr., 30, of Grantville, was arrested at the site of the crash and booked into the Coweta County Jail. He is charged with vehicular homicide, a felony, and several misdemeanors related to reckless driving and driving under the influence, jail records show.
According to the Georgia State Patrol’s initial investigation, the crash happened about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when an earlier accident caused traffic to slow on I-85 North. Traffic had backed up several miles when a 2004 Ford F-250 Super Duty driven by Kittinger failed to slow down, crashing into the backup.
The pickup truck rear-ended a Ford Fusion, pushing it into a Lexus ES sedan, then veered left and hit a Hyundai Santa Fe.
The collision caused the Fusion to catch fire, and Coweta Fire Rescue arrived to find the car engulfed in flames, according to the GSP. The driver of the Fusion, a 51-year-old woman from Hogansville, was declared dead at the scene. Her name was not released.
No one else was injured, the GSP confirmed.
The incident shut down a section of the interstate for hours. The GSP Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team will investigate the collision.
In other news:
Credit: WSBTV Videos