COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Two landscape workers were hit while working on Interstate 85 in College Park on Thursday afternoon.
Police confirmed that one of those workers was killed, and the other remains in serious condition with life-threatening injuries.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the worker who died as 37-year-old Celestino Pora-Carrillo.
The driver and the worker who was hurt have not been identified.
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In a Thursday night update, Georgia State Patrol said the two were “working in the grass gore area between the I-85 NB C/D lanes and the ramps to North Inner Loop Road.”
The Georgia Department of Transportation confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that that workers were contractors working for GDOT.
A white Chevrolet Malibu traveled off the roadway to the right, hit the two workers and left the scene. The two workers were taken to Grady, where one died.
Investigators say the driver involved in the crash initially left the scene, but came back and identified himself as the driver to College Park PD officers. Georgia State Patrol said the driver is in custody with charges pending.
The crash happened near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport just after 3 p.m. The interstate fully reopened just before 6:30 p.m. The crash is reminding drivers of Georgia’s move over law.
“That’s exactly where I was headed to go home,” Val Watson told Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco.
Drivers in the area said the deadly crash is a sad reminder to pay attention.
Georgia law requires drivers to move over one lane when emergency, department of transportation, utility and tow trucks are stopped on the highway for work.
If traffic is too heavy to move over safely, law requires drivers to slow down below the speed limit and be prepared to stop.
“I say all the time people drive in Atlanta just to get where they are going, not to get there safely,” said Watson. “I’m trying to dive for me and everybody around.”
Right now, more than 30 states have move over laws.
Georgia passed its law in 2003 after a growing number of construction workers and emergency responders were killed. Lawmakers updated the law to include utility linemen in 2016.
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