Police have charged the driver with causing a woman's death Sunday on Spaghetti Junction, the intersection of I-285 and I-85, authorities said.
Marcelino Chavez-Lopez was charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, driving without a license and failure to maintain his lane, DeKalb County Sheriff's spokesman Jason Gagnon said.
The woman was trying to help another driver who lost control of his vehicle on the junction's elevated ramp when a truck rear-ended the woman's car, pushing her over the guard wall and sending her plummeting more than 50 feet to I-85 below, police said.
The woman, who has not been named, died at the scene of the accident, DeKalb police said.
The woman was traveling I-85 south onto I-285 east when she stopped, DeKalb police spokesman.
“The man had spun out of control,” said Gagnon. “As she was helping him, another man in a truck came around the ramp. He struck her vehicle, which then hit her and knocked her off the ramp.”
The 53-year-old woman fell about 50 plus feet onto the 85 northbound lanes, which were blocked for several hours. The woman died on the scene.
The man she was helping also was injured. He was transported to an Atlanta area hospital in serious condition, added Gagnon.
Officers arrested the man who struck the woman's car. Charges are pending.
Weather was the cause of a number of major accidents throughout the city Sunday.
Villa Rica Captain Scott Parker said that by 4 p.m. they had responded to a total of 15 accidents Sunday. Three involved entrapments.
At one time while clearing I-20 of one accident, a driver crossed the median, striking another car head on right in front of officers, said Parker.
“This is very uncommon for us in one day,” he said. “This has been rather exceptional.”
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