Man falls to death after Beltline collision

Raleigh police were waiting until the man's family was notified Saturday to release his identity, but police spokesman Jim Sughrue said the victim was 33.

According to the police report on the incident, there were two wrecks in quick succession between Glenwood Avenue and Six Forks Road at about 7 p.m.

The first left a car stopped sideways in the highway. Two cars then hit the first.

As on-coming cars tried to swerve to avoid the stopped vehicles, two of those people jumped over a barrier between the westbound and eastbound lanes to get out of the way, not realizing the gap was open below to Crabtree Creek.

One man, an 18-year-old, survived the fall with cuts and bruises, police said. The other fell 70 feet to the creek and died.

Police said there is a fence to prevent such falls on the outside edge of the westbound lanes, but no such fence exists between the Outer and Inner beltline.

The highway was closed for about three hours while police re-routed the more than 100 cars that were stuck between those two roads when the wrecks occurred.