(WSB Radio) For the first time in the program's 15-year history, a Highway Emergency Response Operator has been killed in the line of duty.
The Georgia Department of Transportation says it happened shortly after 10:30 Monday morning on I-85 South at Metropolitan Parkway, which is south of downtown Atlanta.
The HERO unit operator pulled over where a motorist was trying to change a flat. A Ford F-450 pulling a landscaping trailer sideswiped the HERO truck, which then collided with the operator, authorities said. The driver of the disabled Ford Ranger the HERO had stopped to help was standing by the right fender of his truck and was able to jump to safety.
Information on whether the F-450 driver was speeding was not immediately available, nor was the driver's name released.
All the southbound lanes of I-85 were closed for a time after the wreck.