Two people died and three others — including a 3-month-old — were taken to a hospital following a fiery two-vehicle crash on I-20 in Fulton County that brought traffic to a standstill for four hours Sunday morning, according to officials.
The crash on I-20 East at I-285 was reported around 5 a.m., according to Atlanta police. Traffic slowly began to move as most lanes were reopened by 9:40 a.m.
Credit: ArLuther Lee
Credit: ArLuther Lee
When Atlanta Fire Rescue officials arrived at the scene, they found a Dodge Charger engulfed in flames and an overturned Chevrolet pickup truck, police and fire officials said.
Police said the Charger had been immobile in an eastbound lane and facing the wrong direction as the pickup truck was approaching. The truck’s driver attempted to avoid hitting the Charger but was unsuccessful, according to a news release.
The driver of the Charger, its sole occupant, died, police said. He was identified by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office as 24-year-old Erik Prentice.
The driver of the truck and two passengers, a 16-year-old boy and a 3-month-old girl, were taken to a hospital. A third passenger, Stephen Saylor, 36, died.
A dog also was in one of the vehicles, fire department spokeswoman Alyssa Richardson said. It’s not clear in which vehicle the dog was riding, but it was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Channel 2 Action News reported it was being treated by animal control.
Officials did not release any other details about the victims, including their conditions, or information about what may have caused the crash. It remains under investigation.
Sunday’s wreck is the latest in a string of deadly collisions on metro Atlanta interstates and highways this year.
On Jan. 1, for example, an 18-year-old woman died after the vehicle she was driving struck a concrete barrier around 3 a.m. on the ramp from Ga. 400 South to I-85 South. The barrier had been partially in the left lane of traffic, according to an Atlanta police report. The car overturned, landed upside down and burst into flames.
A 23-year-old passenger was pulled from the wreckage and survived, according to police. Investigators did not know how the barrier got in the lane of travel.
On Feb. 16 in Clayton County, a woman was killed in a fiery multivehicle crash on I-285.
Two days later, a man was hit and killed while changing a tire on I-20 near Windsor Road. The woman who was driving the other car was charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, improper lane change, seatbelt violation, driving too fast for conditions and driving within a barrier.
On March 4, three women were killed when their vehicle slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer on I-85 in Midtown.
One week later, on March 11, two men died on the Downtown Connector after they were shot multiple times.
Atlanta’s crashes come amid what the U.S. Department of Transportation calls an alarming increase in traffic fatalities across the country since the coronavirus pandemic began.
In January, the department unveiled its new plan to reduce the number of people killed on the road.
The National Roadway Safety Strategy calls for states and local road owners to build and maintain safer roads by updating traffic control devices and leveraging technology to create safer vehicles and roads.
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