WREG.com

MHP releases the cause of one of the deadly crashes on I-55 Thursday

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss — Crews spent hours cleaning up after a deadly crash that took the life of a mother and her child on I-55 in Mississippi Thursday morning.

The clean up from that accident caused a lot of delays.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol said traffic from that crash may be to blame for the second deadly crash On I-55 that happened just hours later.

The first deadly crash happened near the Coldwater Bridge.

Drivers said hearing about two deadly crashes in a matter of hours makes them nervous.

Investigators are still trying to figure out why Susan Overton was driving the wrong way on I-55 before ramming into a UPS truck.

The crash killed the mom from Jonesboro and her 9-year-old daughter.

The second accident happened hours later on I-55, South of Hernando, not far from where the first one happened.

“It’s a shame to see families go through that. I hate it for the families,” said William Wheeler.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol said the driver of a tractor trailer slowed down because clean up from the first crash was still slowing traffic.

They told WREG Robert Maxwell, who was driving a minivan, hit the back of the truck.

The Ridgeland native died at the scene.

Drivers said they’re not surprised to learn what caused the second deadly crash on I-55.

“I think that it’s very dangerous and as a citizen of this town, I’m very concerned for the citizens here,” said Deborah Dixon.

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