‘He missed us by an inch’: Woman recalls nearly being hit by wrong-way driver on I-75

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Police say a driver suffered a medical emergency when he drove the wrong way on I-75.

The driver, 84-year-old Thomas Mollencop, died in the crash.

The crash happened just after 9 Sunday night near the Bryan Station Road overpass.

As one woman tells us, she and her children were seconds away from being hit by that wrong-way driver.

Jessica Fletcher was on her way home to Richmond with her children in the backseat.

“At first, I thought this person was just somebody in front of me that didn’t have their lights on, and my middle son was in the back, and he was like, ‘they’re coming at us,’” said Fletcher.

As police were on their way, that wrong-way driver crashed near mile marker 111.

“He missed us by an inch,” said Fletcher. “If I would’ve been over anymore, he would’ve sideswiped my car.”

Three vehicles were involved in the crash. Mollencop hit one car head-on and an 18-year-old from that car was taken to the hospital in critical condition. No injuries were reported in the third car.

“When you see headlights going every which way that you can, you know something bad has happened,” said Fletcher.

Lori Weaver Hawkins with AAA says Kentucky has seen a stark rise in fatalities due to wrong-way crashes.

“This is just another reason to make sure that you’re not driving distracted. Because while some of these crashes, unfortunately, these innocent victims didn’t have time to react, if you’re not distracted, you can increase your chance of being able to react,” said Weaver Hawkins.

Fletcher says she’s grateful she had that time to react, even if it was just a matter of seconds.

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