CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two people were killed in a wrong-way head-on crash on Interstate 77 near downtown Charleston early Saturday morning.
corner of this traffic camera photo.
A driver entered the interstate heading the wrong way and struck an oncoming vehicle near the Leon Sullivan Way exit ramp at about 3:00 a.m.
Sgt. Kevin Oldham, CPD’s Traffic Division Commander, said it appears the driver may have entered the interstate from the Leon Sullivan exit but investigators were still trying to confirm that. Oldham said the approaching vehicle had just come around the southbound curve as the wrong-way vehicle was heading north. They collided head-on.
Oldham said a passenger in a Kia Rio was killed at the scene. The driver of that vehicle was injured.
A driver of Volvo S60, who was traveling alone, also died at the scene.
Oldham said investigators are making sure which vehicles were going which way.
“We want to double-check and be 100% sure that we got the vehicle going the right way and the one going the wrong way. The reconstruction report will come afterward,” he said.
The identifications of those involved will be released once families are notified.
The interstate was closed at least partially for about 7 hours. Oldham said officers used a digital mapper to shoot the scene to scale for evidentiary purposes.