Photographer Ben Gray contributed to this story.
He was only trying to help. But a man’s decision to stop and help a stranded motorist cost him his life Friday afternoon on I-20.
The Good Samaritan that stopped to help a motorist with a flat tire was struck and killed in DeKalb County, police said.
The wreck happened around 2:15 p.m. on I-20 eastbound, east of Wesley Chapel Road, when the victim was struck by a vehicle, according to Sgt. William Wallace with DeKalb police.
“There was a No. 1 vehicle that reportedly had a flat tire and was stranded,” Wallace said. “The second motorist stopped to help the No. 1 car and was struck by a third car.”
It was not known late Friday if charges would be filed in the wreck, which remains under investigation, Wallace said. Investigators had not determined whether the victim was in a travel lane or on the shoulder when he was hit.
The wreck temporarily blocked several lanes of I-20 eastbound for about two hours while police investigated.
Sherri Powell, a truck driver from Temple, said she moved over a lane to avoid the two pickup trucks she saw pulled over on the right side of I-20. Powell said she watched helplessly as a woman in a black car struck the man, sending him in the air.
Powell stopped her truck after seeing the car strike the man, but says it was too late to help. “He was already gone,” she said.
The woman that hit the man stopped at the scene, according to Powell and police.
“She was tore up,” Powell said of the driver. “She was in shock.”
— Photographer Ben Gray contributed to this report.
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