Two Texas women died when an SUV ran into the rear of an 18-wheeler that had stopped to make a turn.
The wreck happened about 4:45 a.m. Wednesday in DeSoto Parish.
Killed in the accident about 3.5 miles north of Logansport were 27-year-old Julia Patton, the Carthage woman who was driving the 2017 Jeep, and her front-seat passenger, 18-year-old Galveston resident Jaylie Gray, Louisiana State Police reports.
Trooper First Class Brent Hardy said the two women are related.
LSP also reports that the SUV’s rear-seat passenger, whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital for treatment of serious injuries.
Preliminary investigation shows a 2017 International tractor-trailer rig was stopped in the northbound lane of Louisiana Highway 765 near Marshall Road and was preparing to make a right turn, Hardy said.
Investigators still are working to determine why the Jeep, which also was traveling north on LA 765, failed to stop and struck the trailer’s rear bumper.
Patton and her two passengers were not wearing seatbelts, authorities report.
The driver of the tractor-trailer rig was not injured.
Toxicology samples were obtained and have been submitted for analysis.
Louisiana State Police’s Bossier City-based Troop G has investigated 17 fatal crashes resulting in 20 deaths this year.