LEXINGTON, Ky. – Six people, four of them children, died in a crash involving a driver going the wrong way on Interstate 75 Saturday afternoon.
The head-on collision was reported at mile marker 102.6 in southern Fayette County just before 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
On Sunday, the Fayette County Coroner’s Office released the names of the six people who were killed.
The driver of the vehicle that was going the wrong way was identified as Jamaica Natasha Caudill, 38, of Madison County, according to the coroner’s office. She died at the scene of the crash.
The other vehicle was driven by Catherine Greene, 30, of Owenton, according to the Fayette County Coroner’s Office. There were four children in the car with Greene, including 9-year-old Karmen Greene, who died at the scene of the crash.
Catherine Greene and the other three children in the car — 11-year-old Santanna Greene, 5-year-old Brayden Boxwell and 2-year-old Jack Greene — were taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital where they died of their injuries, according to the coroner’s office.
Police said Saturday that they were responding to call at 12:23 p.m. in which the caller reported that a dark passenger car had gotten on the interstate at the 104 mile marker, which is the Athens exit in Lexington, going the wrong way.
“Before officers could locate the vehicle, an update was provided that a head-on collision had occurred,” police said in a news release.
Video of the vehicle going the wrong way down I-75 was obtained by WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner. The video, which does not show the crash itself but does include audio of reaction to the crash, shows a car moving south at a steady speed against traffic in the inside lane of northbound I-75.
Police shut down northbound lanes of I-75 near the Clays Ferry Bridge after the collision. The road had reopened by about 4:45 p.m.
Before the road reopened, traffic appeared to be backed up for miles back toward Richmond as vehicles were detoured off the interstate.
For traumatic calls like the crash Saturday, the Lexington Police Department requests the Police Officer Support Team, which gives “support and guidance to everyone (not just police) involved at the scene. This support will also continue well after the event,” Lexington police spokesman Sgt. Donnell Gordon said Sunday.
As of Sunday the crash was still under investigation, Gordon said.
Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call Lexington Police Special Operations’ Collision Reconstruction Unit at (859) 258-3663.
Anonymous tips can be submitted to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers by calling (859) 253-2020, online at Bluegrasscrimestoppers.com or through the P3 tips app available at P3tips.com.
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