FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the wrong-way crash that killed one woman and sent another to the hospital Sunday morning on Ga. 400, officials said.
Forsyth County Deputy Robin Regan said 911 calls from motorists alerted authorities to the Honda Accord driving south in the northbound lanes, but there wasn’t enough time to prevent the deadly crash.
Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach was on the scene when police were clearing the two vehicles involved in the crash.
One young woman dead and another critical after wrong-way crash on GA-400 NB near exit 14 in Forsyth Co. pic.twitter.com/Huz8Gtg6U5
— Steve Gehlbach (@SteveGWSB)According to a news release, Cumming resident Maria Gonzalez ,21, was driving the wrong way on Ga. 400 when she hit the Nissan Exterra driven by Ashley Held ,27, head-on.
Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Held was trapped in
her SUV,which flipped onto its side after the impact.Firefighters and deputies had to cut her
from the SUV before she was flown to the hospital in critical condition.The head-on collision spread debris across Ga
400.Police have not said yet which vehicle was the wrong-way driver.
They're working to determine where
the wrong-way driver got on the highway and how Gonzalez longwas driving south in the northbound lanes."We were receiving multiple 911 calls about the wrong
-way driver," Forsyth County deputy Robin Regan said. "Deputies were responding to the area."The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office cleared the scene around 7:45 Sunday morning.
There were no other passengers in either vehicle.
Regan said the crash remained under investigation but alcohol was “suspected as a factor.”
Held's family has started a GoFundMe page that has raised over $3,000 in the past 18 hours.