A driver faces charges related to a two-vehicle crash that shut down I-75 in Whitfield County for more than two hours Saturday afternoon, authorities say.
Anthony D. Turner, 45, of Mableton, swerved to the left while driving his 2000 Chevrolet Impala in the left lane of I-75 south about noon, the Department of Public Safety said Sunday in an email.
Turner told police another vehicle swerved in front of him, which caused him to swerve left and lose control of his car on the wet highway, colliding with a tractor-trailer.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Keith L. Yakel, 39, of McDonough, told police he saw the Impala coming toward his truck and he swerved to the right, but the Impala hit the tractor-trailer, which went off the roadway and into it a ditch.
The tractor-trailer struck a tree and the steel exit sign as it veered into the ditch, according to DPS.
The cab then overturned and the tractor-trailer caught fire. A passerby pulled Yakel from the tractor-trailer and emergency medical service workers took Yakel to Hamilton Medical in Dalton.
Turner was charged with driving too fast for conditions and failure to maintain lane.
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