Six Dead in Ga. Car, Truck Crash
Roswell police were not immediately sure what caused the 3:45 p.m. accident Sunday that killed a man, his sister and her daughter, a young brother and sister and an adult male unrelated to others in the car.
Officers at the scene said the truck driver, apparently an independent driver for the U.S. Postal Service, said he was about to exit from the northbound lanes when his rig hit the car from behind. He was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. No other vehicles were involved.
"At this point, we just don't know what happened," Roswell Police Sgt. Jim McGee said. "We don't know if the car cut in front of him, or what."
Tiffany Baker of Roswell said she pulled over, believing the car's driver was still alive when she approached the mangled vehicle.
"His eyes were open, but he wouldn't respond," she explained.
Witnesses traveling behind the truck said they believed the car was stopped in the road based on how quickly the truck slammed on its brakes. Heavy skid marks extended about 60 feet from where the truck and the car came to rest on the tollroad's shoulder.
The Haitian family was returning from Good Samaritan Baptist Church on Buford Highway when the wreck occurred. About 40 people who gathered on the highway's shoulder said they were friends and neighbors of the family, who apparently lived only blocks away.
At one point officers investigating the crash had to restrain a relative who fell to his knees, pounding his fists on the ground and screaming when officers removed a blue tarp from the front of the car to take photographs.
"It's not fair," said Fregy St. Gean, a friend of the victims. "For people to be coming from church and to get into such an accident. And they all died."
The crash temporarily shut down the northbound lanes of the highway, a major route connecting Atlanta with its northernmost suburbs. Traffic was backed up for miles after two lanes were opened.
