Two Dead After Accident Over I-285

Atlanta police say they may never know what happened to a man and a woman who were killed today after they fell from an elevated I-285 train overpass onto the freeway in an incident that prompted authorities to shut down the northbound lanes for at least an hour in what turned out to be a day for major gridlock on Metro Atlanta roadways.

Details were sketchy but it appears that the victims were walking on a narrow elevated train trestle at I-285 near the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive exit.

Authorities said it is unclear if they were struck by the oncoming train or if they jumped to avoid the train or if one of them pushed the other who dragged the second one down, too.

Authorities said two may have been transients because they were not carrying identification. Authorities said the man died from the impact of jumping 60 feet onto the freeway while the woman was killed when she was struck by an oncoming car.

Police shut down the northbound lanes of the interstate while they cleared the scene, bringing traffic on I-285 to a virtual standstill.

About two hours earlier, lengthy traffic delays were reported on the Downtown Connector after a car collided with the back of a tractor-trailer, the third major accident to snarl Metro Atlanta interstates today, including one in which a passenger was killed.

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State Department of Transportation officials said as of noon Friday all southbound lanes of I-75 between Atlanta and Macon remained shut down after a fatal overnight wreck. The accident, which occurred about 70 miles south of downtown Atlanta, involved two tractor-trailers and three other vehicles.

In Cobb County, another chain-collision wreck involving five cars traveling on I-75 at I-285 snarled morning traffic. No injuries were reported in that wreck.

The latest accident occured around 10:45 a.m. on the Connector. One person was injured and said to be trapped in their vehicle during the collision on the southbound lanes at the Williams Street exit. Emergency workers removed the passenger, who was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for care.

The passenger's condition was not immediately available.

Traffic was moving on the Connector but motorists were forced to use the two left lanes while crews worked to clear the scene.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Elliot contributed to this report.