MANCHAC, La. — A woman who witnessed one of the crashes on Monday shared her story with WWLTV.
Erica Glory and her mother were travelling from Mandeville to Louis Armstrong airport Monday morning. She says at the Manchac overpass, they lost visibility, and all of sudden saw the cars in front of them were braking.
Glory told WWLTV, "We sat with zero visibility waiting for the unsuspecting cars to come up behind us to see if we're going to be hit."
That's when she says she heard noises, she says she'll never forget, "We kept hearing car after car after car slam into each other and the sound of crushing metal, screams, and people getting out and running," she said.
Glory says the accident happened directly behind her on the southbound side, saying, "Every single car was involved in the pile up, we were the last car that was able to drive away from that scene unscathed."
According to the St. John the Baptist Parish Coroner's office at least seven people died in the crash. The coroners office says they're still trying to determine if a victim's remains belong to an eighth person or an already identified person. Louisiana State Police say 168 cars were involved in the pileup.
Meanwhile, St. John the Baptist Sheriff, Mike Tregre says one of his deputy's pulled a woman trapped inside her car to safety. The Sheriff told WWLTV, "One of my detectives, he lives in Ponchatoula and he was taking I-55 south to come to Laplace and of course the traffic came to a stand still and he could hear all the crashes happening all around him."
Sheriff Tregre says the detective started helping those trapped in cars, in one of those cars he says was a married couple.
"He managed to get the front passenger out, the female, but he wasn't able to remove the driver... He tried his best to save the gentleman but even with his best effort he couldn't save him and watched him perish right there on I-55," he said.
He says his detective has taken time off as he grapples with what he witnessed that fatal day on I-55.
"Your life changes forever to witness somebody perish right there in front of you, being a first responder, your job, your duty, your responsibility is to save and protect people. He did everything he could."
Home for the first time since the accident, Erica says the first thing she did when she walked through the door was hold her children, Glory said, "Those people's faces as we were driving away we were catching each other's eyes, like what just happened, how are we alive, could not believe it. Those people's faces are faces I will never forget."
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