The Cobb County Medical Examiner’s office Tuesday identified the motorist killed in Monday afternoon’s fiery crash on I-75 northbound as Kevin M. Stefanik, 39, of Woodstock.
The incident happened shortly after 4 p.m. near the intersection with Barrett Parkway and may have been the result of a medical emergency, Sgt. Dana Pierce with Cobb County police said. Police, firefighters and the medical examiner’s office were called to the scene, he said.
An initial investigation by officers of the Cobb Selective Traffic Enforcement Program determined that Stafanik, who was driving a black 2011 Buick Regal, had pulled over to the right emergency shoulder, just north of the northbound exit ramp to Barrett, Pierce said.
A Georgia Department of Transportation H.E.R.O. unit was about to stop to give assistance when for unknown reasons the Buick pulled out, drove away from the H.E.R.O. unit northbound, and went about 100 yards before it ran east off the road just short of the Barrett overpass.
The car plunged “down a ravine and into the wood line. The vehicle became fully involved with fire after colliding with the trees,” Pierce said.
Firefighters put out the fire and found Stefanik’s body in the driver’s seat, Pierce said.
Pierce said Tuesday that authorities had determined that Stefanik died as a result of injuries he sustained in the crash.
Anyone with information about the accident was asked to call Cobb County police at 770-499-3987.
Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this article.
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