DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A Channel 2 Action News crew saw a fiery crash involving multiple cars and a tanker truck on I-85 northbound at Shallowford Road. It appeared the tanker truck had also caught fire.
In an afternoon update, Georgia State Patrol said a Ford F-150 ended up hit by three different vehicles in the crash. The driver of that vehicle died in the hospital after being ejected from the truck.
According to fire officials, the tanker truck was hauling dairy products.
All lanes of I-85 northbound at Shallowford Road (Exit 93) were blocked due to a vehicle fire.
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The scene cleared around 8 a.m.
The DeKalb County Police Department told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims that the initial crash happened around 1:19 a.m.
Preliminary investigation suggests that a box truck rear-ended a pick-up truck, then an SUV and a tanker truck hit the crash scene.
Georgia State Patrol said in an afternoon update that troopers were dispatched to help DeKalb PD at the crash at about 2:11 a.m.
The crash involved a box truck, a semi-tanker, a Ford F-150 and a Ford Excursion.
DeKalb County PD was blocking the right lane with the box truck, and the F-150 was disabled against the left median wall.
The investigation determined that the box truck was following too closely to the F-150 and struck it in the rear. The box truck came to a controlled rest in the right lane/right shoulder, and the driver fled the scene on foot.
The F-150 came to an uncontrolled rest in the left lane.
The Ford Excursion, in the second lane from the left, struck the F-150, causing it to rotate into lane 3.
The semi-tanker in lane 3 and struck the F-150 and caught fire, Georgia State Patrol said. The driver of the F-150 was ejected from the vehicle.
The driver of the F-150 was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead. This person hasn’t been identified.
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In an earlier report, Capt. Jaeson Daniels of the DeKalb County Fire Rescue Department told Channel 2 Action News that one person was dead and several others were injured in the multi-vehicle incident.
The exact number of people hurt was not immediately available.
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