The driver of a tractor-trailer was killed Sunday afternoon when the rig flipped on its side in Clayton County.
Authorities shut down Jonesboro Road in Forest Park for several hours to investigate the deadly crash and clean up the truck’s contents, more than 40,000 pounds of pork products, Channel 2 Action News reported. The tractor-trailer left the road around 12:30 p.m., rolled down an embankment and landed beside a car wash inside the Jonesboro Plaza.
A witness, Vielka Chavarria, told the news station it appeared the tractor-trailer was forced off the road when another vehicle cut in front of it. She saw a passenger car pull into the shopping center after the crash and then speed away.
"I think he tried to avoid the other car, and that’s when he lost control and rolled down," Chavarria said.
Forest Park police are still investigating. Three witnesses gave different accounts of the moments before the crash, and investigators told Channel 2 they are not ruling out foul play because the driver of the tractor-trailer had head trauma.
He was identified by his family as 47-year-old Antonio Smith.
"He would give the shirt off his back, his last dime to anybody,” Smith’s sister, Latwanda Langdon, told the news station. “He'd do anything to help anybody.”
Langdon said she and her brother, a father of three, attended a family barbecue Saturday night. She didn’t realize that would be the last time she saw him.
The family is now hoping for answers in his death.
"It shows the lack of humanity we have in the world today that you can cause an accident and don’t know if you killed someone and you keep going,” Langdon said. “We need all the prayers for strength we can get.”
An autopsy is scheduled for Monday morning, according to Channel 2.
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