1 killed, 2 injured in I-75 wreck

DALTON — There is one confirmed fatality and two people were airlifted to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga this afternoon following a wreck on I-75 near Walnut Avenue, a Georgia State Patrol official said.

The wreck involved a tractor-trailer, a landscaping truck and a pickup truck, said Cpl. E. Tommy Bonaparte with the state patrol.

“We are still on the scene and this is ongoing,” Bonaparte said at about 1:15 p.m. “I can tell you we have one confirmed fatality and two others are being airlifted to Erlanger. Everybody who was hurt was in the landscaping truck. There were five occupants in that truck. All of them were hurt and trapped.

“The wreck occurred southbound. But it ended up over the guardrail blocking the northbound side.”

The coroner said a male not from this area was killed but did not want to release the name since the next of kin had not been notified.

Tammy Austin got on I-75 northbound at Connector 3 around 1:29 p.m., headed to Tunnel Hill. At 3 p.m. she was sitting on I-75 eyeing her fuel gauge.

“You guys posted an alert about the wreck maybe 20 minutes before I got on, but my phone was on my seat and Georgia has this new law that you can’t use your cellphone while driving, so I didn’t look at it,” she said. “If I had, I’d have taken Highway 41 north, maybe used the bypass, and I’d be home by now.”

Austin said several drivers had already run out of gas.

“They managed to make it onto the shoulder,” she said. “But I saw a GDOT (Georgia Department of Transportation) truck coming north, and he was weaving in and out between them.”