Three people were killed in a head-on, wrong way collision on I-69 in Graves County Saturday night.
According to a news release from the Graves County Sheriff’s Department, deputies had actively been responding to reports of a vehicle driving the wrong-way on I-69 around 7:45 p.m. when a head-on collision occurred in the area of the 27-mile marker of the interstate.
Preliminary investigation reportedly revealed that a vehicle operated by 68-year-old Shirley Ballard of Mayfield had mistakenly ramped onto the southbound lanes of I-69 from U.S. 45 and was traveling the wrong direction in the northbound lanes. That’s when she collided with a southbound vehicle driven by 21-year-old Colten Blankenship of Illinois.
Blankenship was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Graves County Coroner’s Office. Two passengers in the vehicle, 18-year-old Alexander McLean of Eddyville and 22-year-old Daniel Guasp of Nortonville, with taken to different hospitals, where they would be pronounced deceased.
Ballard was transported to a hospital in critical condition.