The Highway Patrol reports the driver of 2019 Peterbuilt tractor trailer was apparently responsible for the multi-vehicle crash that left three dead and at least half a dozen people injured. Corporal Joe Hovis said the 18 wheeler plowed into a line of vehicles that had stopped in the construction zone. Six people from several different vehicles were taken to Spartanburg Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries.
Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said three people died in that eight vehicle chain reaction collision in the construction zone of I-85 in Cherokee County. Fowler said Thomas Newman McElroy, 58, and his wife, Ruth Ann McElroy, 60, of Townville and Karen Marie Goggin, 60, of Lake Frederick, Virginia died in the crash that occurred in the south bound lane near exit 90 just south of Gaffney at 3:20 p.m. Thursday.
The 2007 Chrysler occupied by the McElroy's and the 2014 Ford Focus occpied by the Goggins were part of a rear end chain reaction collision that occurred in one of the two south bound single-lane "chutes" constructed to divert traffic around the I-85 widening project.
In a very candid media release yesterday Coroner Fowler called these chutes "death traps". Fowler said he disagrees with state officials who claim these barricaded lanes are safe for motorists. Fowler went on to say "It seems none of those officials are around to ride with me to knock on the doors of next of kin to deliver the message a loved one has been killed in this maze of concrete. Something must be done immediately. We cannot lose any more lives at the sacrifice of a road project"