Three people were killed and three others were hurt in a fiery crash between a work van and a South Fulton police cruiser.
The officer in the cruiser, identified as 25-year-old Deonte Walker, was pursuing a recently stolen Mercedes-Benz on Ga. 138, traveling east into Union City, according to the Georgia State Patrol. When the patrol cruiser approached I-85 about 9:40 p.m. Sunday, it collided with the work van, which was making a left turn from the interstate onto Ga. 138.
The work van “entered into the path of the patrol vehicle,” a GSP spokesman told AJC.com.
“The patrol vehicle struck the left side of the van, causing it to overturn onto its top and catch fire,” the spokesman said in a statement. “The patrol vehicle also caught on fire and was burned severely.”
Three people in the van were dead at the scene. They have not been identified by authorities.
“One of the survivors has not yet been identified,” the GSP said Thursday. “We were told that family members of the victims, who are believed to live out of the country, will have to provide DNA in order to ID the victims. This will be a minimum of six months to positively identify any of the victims by DNA.”
Three others in the van were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, and their conditions were not known Monday afternoon.
The GSP said the driver of the van, Gilmer Gomez-Lopez, 25, of Atlanta, spoke with investigators and “provided as much information as he could on the occupants of the vehicle.”
Walker was also taken to a hospital but has since been released, South Fulton police said.
Emergency crews were on the scene for hours overnight, finally clearing the wreck about 2 a.m.
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