Two killed, two seriously injured in early morning crashes Saturday in the Fredericksburg area

At least two people died following separate traffic accidents early Saturday in the Fredericksburg area, police said.

The first incident involved a two-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 95 about three miles north of the Garrisonville exit in Stafford County, Virginia State Police Sgt. Brent Coffey said. A Volvo SUV was traveling north in the southbound lanes shortly after 4 a.m. when it collided head-on with a southbound Chevrolet sedan.

Coffey said one person was killed and two were seriously injured in the crash. All southbound lanes were closed for about five hours, leading to major traffic backups, as emergency workers tended to the victims and state police investigated the crash.

No further information, including the names of the victims or any possible charges, was immediately available.

In a separate incident, a pedestrian was struck and killed after being hit by a truck at 6:20 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of the 2800 block of Plank Road (State Route 3) in Fredericksburg.

City police spokeswoman Jessica Carter said that the victim, 26-year-old Joe Anthony Palacios of no fixed address, was walking east in a travel lane when he was struck. The truck driver remained at the scene and cooperated in the ensuing investigation, Carter said. There was no indication that the driver was impaired.

Palacios was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead several hours later. The incident is still being investigated by the medical examiner's office and the police department's traffic reconstruction team.

Keith Epps: 540/374-5404

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