The three men hit and killed while trying to cross I-85 southbound in DeKalb County early Tuesday were apparently intoxicated, according to police.
The incident happened about 5 a.m. on I-85 at Chamblee Tucker Road, blocking all southbound lanes for nearly two hours and causing an 8-mile backup that stretched to Beaver Ruin Road in Gwinnett County.
DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said that witnesses told investigators the men crossed the northbound lanes of I-85, climbed over the median wall and were trying to cross the southbound lanes when they were hit by a pickup truck.
All three died at the scene.
“Detectives do believe the men were intoxicated,” Parish told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution just before noon.
Police were still working to confirm the identities of the men, she said.
Two of the six southbound lanes were reopened about 6:45 a.m., and the remaining lanes were cleared about an hour later.
The driver of the pickup truck that hit the men remained on the scene, and will not be charged, according to Parish.
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