Officials identify 2 dead after Labor Day weekend crashes

Investigators have identified two men dead after traffic accidents on I-75 over the holiday weekend.

The driver of a Toyota 4Runner clipped a car near the Downtown Connector near Williams Street about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The driver was 40-year-old Jose Castro-Villatoro, Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office officials said.

Police said Sunday via email that Castro-Villatoro was driving at “a high rate of speed when he attempted to change lanes to avoid several vehicles that had stopped in the roadway due to a broken down vehicle.”

He died instantly from injuries suffered when his SUV flipped and hit a wall.

The driver of the second vehicle was taken to Atlanta Medical Center for minor injuries and is expected to be OK, police said.

In a separate incident, a man was killed when he got out of his disabled SUV around 3:45 a.m. Sunday and was struck by a passing car.

Police said the driver of a 2002 Acura MDX was headed north on I-75 when he drifted off the roadway and struck a guardrail.

The accident disabled the vehicle and left it sticking in the roadway with no emergency equipment.

When the man got out of the SUV, a car struck and killed him. Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office officials said the pedestrian was 40-year-old Jude May, believed to be from the Atlanta area. The accident shut down lanes on I-75 near Mount Paran Road for several hours early Sunday.

The driver of that car that struck May, who was not hurt, apparently didn’t see the SUV or its driver.

Police are investigating whether or not alcohol was involved with either crash.

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