On Tuesday afternoon a speeding SUV crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Indian Trail Road, Lilburn police Lt. Chris Dusick said. The vehicle caught fire, and the person inside was dead when authorities arrived on the scene.
Witness Synthe Fleming was in a nearby building and heard the vehicle crash. She said she saw the driver slumped over the air bag.
"People got out of a bus with two fire extinguishers, but when (the tires) kept exploding, they backed off,” she said. “At that point, there was nothing more to do.”
“The fire spread quickly. You saw people crying because they wanted to try to go help the guy,” witness James Hogan said. The first officer on the scene told people to get back, he said.
Hogan said debris was all across the four-lane highway.
The crash temporarily closed Indian Trail and the southbound lanes of U.S. 29.