Fire-rescue crews work on a fatal wrong-way wreck on I-85 south of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Wednesday afternoon.
Police and Fire crews respond to wrong-way wreck on I-85 near I-285 south of Atlanta Wednesday afternoon.
Police and Fire crews respond to wrong-way wreck on I-85 near I-285 south of Atlanta Wednesday afternoon.
ATLANTA -- Two people are dead as a result of a wrong-way collision on Interstate 85 south of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Wednesday afternoon.
The wrong way driver was identified on Friday as 49-year-old William B. Wright from Florida. Wright was killed on impact.
PHOTOS | Deadly wrong-way wreck on I-85
Fulton County Police Detective Melissa Parker said a large pick-up truck pulling an enclosed trailer was northbound on I-85 just past the I-285 off-ramp when it was struck head-on by a smaller pick-up traveling the wrong way on the freeway at about 3:15 p.m. Both vehicles burst into flames on impact.
According to the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office, the passenger of the truck hit by the wrong way driver died at Grady Memorial Hospital on Wednesday night. The driver of the larger truck remains in critical condition at Grady.
A Groome Transportation airport shuttle van traveling from Columbus to Hartsfield-Jackson was in the lane next to the larger truck when the accident occurred and suffered some minor damage to its driver's side when the trucks collided.
Passenger Paul Norwood was in the van and said it happened so fast that he and two others in the van had no time to do anything except "hold onto each other." The three passengers and the driver in the van were not hurt.
Traffic returned to normal on I-85 after 7 p.m. Wednesday.
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