A Georgia man was killed Sunday morning and six other people, including four children, were taken to Baptist Health Corbin when their SUV ran off the road on I-75, crashed through a guardrail and flipped multiple times.
Whitley County Coroner J. Andrew Croley pronounced 30-year-old Dantorium C. Favors of Austell, Ga. dead at the scene of the crash on southbound I-75 near the 21-mile marker.
Firefighters and emergency personnel were called to the scene about 8:45 a.m.
Oak Grove and Woodbine firefighters used the Jaws-of-Life to extricate the individuals from the Ford Explorer.
Favors was reportedly in the left rear passenger seat of the vehicle driven by his wife.
The injured were taken by ambulance as weather precluded emergency helicopters from flying.
Deputy Daniel Rowe said a witness reported seeing the SUV cross from the high-speed lane, across the slow and emergency lanes before striking the guardrail and flipping multiple times.
“The witness said it appeared the vehicle hydroplaned on the wet surface,” Rowe said.
Rowe said he was able to speak to one of the adult passengers, who said the family had left Cleveland, Ohio and was en route back to Georgia.
Oak Grove and Woodbine firefighters, along with Whitley County EMS responded to the scene.
As emergency personnel worked to clear the scene, a wreck involving four vehicles occurred in the northbound lanes as individuals slowed to glance at the scene.
Rowe said one driver was complaining of minor injuries that resulted from the deployment of the airbag.
Officials with the sheriff’s department, said the slick roads and holiday traffic resulted in 10 traffic crashes in Whitley County Sunday.
Seven of those wrecks resulted in injuries.
