Woman killed in three-vehicle crash on I-285 in Clayton County

A driver was killed and a passenger was critically injured Friday morning when their car was pushed into the path of a tractor-trailer in Clayton County.

The WSB 24-hour Traffic Center issued a red alert at 4:30 a.m. when authorities closed the interstate east of Riverdale Road. The three-vehicle crash involved a jackknifed tractor-trailer carrying 10,000 pounds of "miscellaneous items," the Traffic Center reported.

Investigators believe the car had stalled or stopped in a right lane of the interstate when it was hit by another vehicle just before 4 a.m., according to Clayton County police. The car was sent into the travel lane of the tractor-trailer, which T-boned it on the driver’s side.

The woman driving the car was dead at the scene, Clayton fire officials said. Her passenger was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

They have not been identified by police.

No one in the other vehicle was injured, officials said, and the driver of the tractor-trailer refused to be taken to a hospital.

At 7:45 a.m., authorities began slowly reopening the lanes and traffic began to flow again after several hours of gridlock.

Traffic is not moving on I-285 East in Clayton County due to a deadly crash investigation. JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM

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