A woman has died after colliding head-on while she was driving the wrong way on Interstate 55 in Tangipahoa Parish, according to Louisiana State Police. (Louisiana State Police)
By Renita D. Young, NOLA.com | The Times Picayune
on August 26, 2015
A woman has died after colliding head-on while she was driving the wrong way on Interstate 55 in Tangipahoa Parish.
Louisiana State Police Trooper Dustin Dwight said just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday (Aug. 26), troopers received a call that a vehicle was driving northbound in the southbound lanes of I-55 between Independence and Amite, La.
But about two minutes later, two vehicles collided head-on in the same area and ultimately claimed the life of Summer Allen Graves, 22, of Amite, La.
According to Dwight, Graves was driving a Dodge Caravan northbound in the left southbound lane of I-55 at the same time 63-year-old Jackie Hatfield of Columbia, Miss. was driving southbound in the same lane.
But when the two vehicles crashed head-on in the southbound lane, Graves wasn't wearing her seatbelt and was pronounced dead on the scene. Hatfield was wearing his seatbelt and was taken to Northoaks Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
Officers suspect Graves may have been impaired at the time of the crash, and have taken a blood sample from both drivers to send to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for analysis.
Louisiana State Troopers remind residents and visitors that all vehicle occupants must wear a seatbelt, regardless of seating position.