Woman killed in Interstate 40 wreck

Raleigh police said that a woman died in a chain-reaction wreck on Interstate 40 Wednesday night after getting out of her car to ask for help.

Posted 2:21 a.m. Feb 24, 2011 — Updated 3:26 a.m. Mar 18, 2011

RALEIGH, N.C. — A woman was killed and nine people injured in a chain-reaction wreck on Interstate 40 West, near Gorman Street, Wednesday night, Raleigh police said.

Police spokesman Jim Sughrue said that driver Amelia Hernandez-Garcia, 34, got out of a vehicle stopped in the center lane and asked for help from another motorist who had stopped. Shortly after, a chain-reaction wreck involving their vehicles and three others happened.

Hernandez-Garcia was killed, and nine other drivers and passengers suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Sughrue said. The injured were treated at local hospitals.

Sughrue said that it's not clear why Hernandez-Garcia's vehicle was stopped in I-40.

No charges have been filed in the wreck. Police planned to consult with the Wake County District Attorney's Office.

I-40 West was blocked and traffic detoured for nearly four hours after the wreck.

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