One person is dead and six are injured after a stalled Pontiac on I-75 South in Atlanta led multiple vehicles to abruptly slow down, causing a chain reaction Friday afternoon that resulted in a seven-car wreck, authorities said.
State troopers were called to the scene on the interstate just past Howell Mill Road around 1:30 p.m., according to a Georgia State Patrol spokeswoman. The wreck involved a mixture of cars and trucks all traveling in the same lane just before I-75 merges with I-85 in Midtown.
Traffic began to suddenly divert around a disabled Pontiac and stop abruptly on the interstate, the GSP spokeswoman said. The sudden slow traffic led two Freightliner utility trucks to hit a Ford Transit van, which piled into a Hyundai sedan, a Toyota Corolla and an Audi A4, according to GSP.
One of the Freightliner trucks steered left at the initial impact with the Ford van and overturned, the spokeswoman said. The Toyota also flipped and its driver was fatally injured, per GSP. That person’s name has not been released. The six other drivers involved were all taken to the hospital.
Investigators from GSP and the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office were called to the scene to investigate. The incident added an extra layer of chaos to a day when emergency responders and work crews were busy with recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
The fatal crash investigation, which lasted more than four hours, shut down all lanes of I-75 South and cut off a major transportation artery at a time when Gov. Brian Kemp said critical resources were being relocated from North Georgia to the southern regions of the state that were clobbered by Helene. Both Freightliner trucks involved in the crash were bucket trucks that are commonly used by utility companies to work on trees and power lines.
Officials have not said if the crash created delays in moving equipment, resources and manpower to South Georgia.
