Man killed in accident that shut down I-75 in Henry County for hours

All northbound lanes of I-75 in Henry County were shut down for nearly five hours Monday morning while police investigated a deadly accident.

A pedestrian, Blake Brooks, 40, was hit by several vehicles north of the Hudson Bridge Road exit, according to Henry County police. The first driver to hit the man called police around 2:45 a.m. to report the accident, and police spokesman Sgt. John Davis said all vehicles involved pulled over to the side of the interstate to wait for authorities to arrive.

Brooks was dead at the scene.

Police closed the northbound lanes around 3:30 a.m. to investigate. The interstate did not reopen until just before 8 a.m., causing miles of heavy backups through McDonough, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

Around 5 a.m., northbound traffic was turned around and forced to exit the interstate onto Hudson Bridge Road. It alleviated some of the backups, but there were still delays throughout the morning rush as traffic rerouted onto Henry County surface streets, the Traffic Center reported.