DOTD worker killed in crash in DeSoto Parish

DeSOTO PARISH, La. (KSLA) - Highway 171 in DeSoto Parish has been reopened after a fatal multi-vehicle wreck.

The crash happened Wednesday, Jan. 25 around 4 p.m. Sheriff Jayson Richardson said the wreck involved three vehicles.

On Thursday, Jan. 26, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) identified their employee, Chris Gray, 35, of Lake Charles, as the person killed in the crash.

The workers involved were filling potholes with asphalt at the time of the incident. The driver of a logging truck was also injured and taken to a hospital for treatment.

This incident is being investigated by Louisiana State Police.

LSP’s initial report says the crash happened as the empty log truck was headed south on Highway 171. At the same time, DOTD vehicles were stopped in the right lane of the highway making improvements to the surface of the road. The log truck hit the first DOTD vehicle (a 2018 Dodge Ram pickup truck), causing it to leave the road. After the first impact, the log truck hit the second DOTD vehicle (a 2015 Ford dump truck).

Gray was standing behind the Ford and was hit, LSP says. One of the other DOTD workers who was injured was standing in the bed of the pickup truck and was thrown from the truck.

Gray was pronounced dead by the DeSoto Parish Coroner’s Office. The other three people injured were taken to a local hospital with moderate injuries.

LSP say impairment is not suspected as a factor in the crash, however, routine toxicology samples were taken for analysis. The wreck is still under investigation.

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