SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Police have charged a truck driver in a deadly crash in South Fulton County.
Dwayne Burkholder, 48, was killed when he crashed into the tractor-trailer Tuesday. Police told Channel 2 Action News the big rig pulled out into traffic and blocked the road as it tried to make a left turn.
Burkholder was rushed to a hospital, where he died. The truck driver, Richard Coates, of Kansas, now faces second-degree vehicular homicide, failure to yield and obstruction of an intersection charges.
Channel 2's Tom Jones spoke with people who work in the area who said this wouldn't have happened if there were a traffic light there.
"It's very dangerous. We sit here all the time, and every time, we're the ones that call 911. And every time, we tell them, 'We need a red light, we need a red light,'" said Amanda Flowers.
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Flowers saw the crash happen Tuesday and said she sees crashes at the intersection all the time. She says Coates was distraught after the crash.
"I hope (we can convince Department of Transportation to do something) because we're really tired of seeing stuff like this," she said.
A spokesperson for the DOT said the agency will need to perform a traffic engineering study before determining what safety enhancements are needed.
Burkholder's wife, Jennifer, said she and her husband would have celebrated 28 years of marriage in May.
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