Louisiana State Police are investigating crashes that left three people dead after victims were sent flying off the elevated Westbank Expressway.
Witnesses report an initial crash around 10:30pm. Several people were standing outside the vehicles when another driver crashed into a disabled vehicle. That caused a chain reaction that threw the victims off the side of the roadway.
Three bodies were recovered on the ground below.
"The crash claimed the lives of three pedestrians (49-year-old Claude Williams Jr. of Gretna, 49-year-old William Leinart of Gretna, and 66-year-old Ivan Chopin of Marrero) and resulted in the arrest of 40-year-old Todd Williams of New Orleans," Trooper Monroe Dillon said in a news release.
He explained that is all started when Claude Williams' 2003 GMC Yukon had an apparent tire blowout on the Westbank Expressway. The other victims had stopped to help him.
"Leinart and Chopin were in the roadway assisting Williams with the disabled vehicle."
Dillon says a short time later an allegedly drunk Todd Williams came upon the scene.
"Todd Williams was traveling eastbound on US Hwy 90B in a 2015 Chevrolet Impala. For reasons still under investigation, the Impala struck the disabled Yukon and the pedestrians, ultimately pushing them over the side of the elevated expressway."
The trooper says the coroner pronounced all three victims dead on the scene.
"Impairment is suspected on the part of Todd Williams, and a toxicology sample was obtained for analysis. He was unrestrained, and was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. Williams was arrested and booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center for Vehicular Homicide (3 counts), Vehicular Negligent Injuring (3 counts), Careless Operation, No Seat Belt, and Switched License Plate. This crash remains under investigation."
