Overview
- The Dec. 22 crash occurred when a northbound tractor-trailer left the right side of I-81 in Roanoke County and struck a Honda Odyssey stopped on the shoulder, according to Virginia State Police.
- Lorraine Renee Williams, 65, Ebony Latasha Williams, 49, and 2-year-old Shazziyah Lesley died after being transported to a hospital, and three others were injured.
- The Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office upgraded initial reckless driving allegations to three counts of involuntary manslaughter tied to the collision.
- Authorities identified the driver as El Hadji Karamoko Ouattara, 58, a resident of Montgomery Village, Maryland, according to the sheriff’s office.
- Fox News, citing an anonymous federal law enforcement source, reports that Ouattara entered the U.S. unlawfully in the 1990s before obtaining a green card and later naturalizing, as federal officials press states on stricter commercial driver licensing.