Two killed in I-85 wreck in Auburn

By: Staff Report | Opelika Auburn News
Published: October 19, 2009

A Florida couple is dead after a single-vehicle wreck on Interstate 85 in Auburn on Monday afternoon.
According to a release from Lee County coroner Bill Harris, Auburn police received an emergency call reporting the wreck near the 55 mile marker on I-85 at about 1:18 p.m.
When officers arrived the found the driver and passenger of a three-axle Freightliner truck with critical injuries, the coroner’s release states. The truck had crossed all lanes of traffic and left the roadway, striking a tree. The driver, Ruth P. Mercer, 60, and her passenger Luther J. Mercer, 65, were extricated from the truck. Ruth Mercer was airlifted to Columbus Regional hospital by Lifesaver helicopter from the scene, where she was pronounced dead on arrival at the emergency room at 2:25 p.m., the release states. Her husband was taken by ambulance to East Alabama Medical Center where he died from his injuries at 4:11 p.m.
The coroner’s release states that both suffered multiple blunt force injuries. The couple listed a Milton, Fla., address.
The wreck temporarily blocked traffic on the affected portion of I-85.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation by the Auburn police, but preliminary findings according to witnesses, seem to indicate that the truck just veered to the left and crossed all lanes before leaving the roadway, striking the tree, the release states. Alcohol was not a factor in the accident. No other vehicles were involved in the wreck. No autopsies are planned and the accident remains under investigation by the Auburn Police and the Lee County Coroner’s Office.