Three young people died when a wrong-way driver collided head-on with their vehicle on a western Kentucky interstate.
The Graves County Sheriff’s Office said that on Saturday night at approximately 7:45, deputies responded to a call indicating a Chevrolet Trax had “mistakenly ramped on to the southbound lanes of I-69 … traveling northbound in the southbound lanes.”
While en route, police were notified of a head-on collision involving the wrong-way vehicle between the 26- and 27-mile markers of the interstate.
The investigation, police said, showed that the northbound Chevrolet, being driven by 68-year-old Shirley Ballard, of Mayfield, collided head-on with a southbound Toyota Corolla, being driven by 21-year-old Colten Blankenship, of Vienna, Illinois.
Blankenship was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Graves County Coroner’s Office. His two passengers, 18-year-old Alexander McLean, of Eddyville, and 22-year-old Daniel Guasp, of Nortonville, were both airlifted; McLean to Jackson Purchase Medical Center, and Guasp to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Both were later pronounced deceased.
Ballard was airlifted to a “Memphis area hospital” in critical condition, the sheriff’s office said.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
