WILCOX, Alabama — All five victims in a head-on collision that occurred April 1 on Interstate 10 have now been identified.
On Thursday, May 9, officials with the Alabama Law Enforcement identified the final victim as 25-year-old Payton Leigh Northcutt of Leesville, Louisiana.
ALEA officials say 26-year-old Dominic Scotti Garcia Jr. of San Antonio, Texas, was driving a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu traveling east bound on I-10 on Monday, April 1 when a deputy with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office attempted to stop the vehicle at the 49-mile marker, approximately four miles west of the Wilcox exit. The stop was for a moving violation the deputy witnessed, according to a BCSO release issued April 1.
The suspect vehicle accelerated attempting to out run the deputy. The vehicle exited I-10 at the Wilcox exit and reentered the interstate west bound. The vehicle then exited the interstate and went south bound on the Baldwin Beach Express. The vehicle did a U-turn on the Baldwin Beach Express and reentered the interstate west bound.
The deputy continued to try and stop the vehicle as it continued west bound. The suspect vehicle did a U-turn on the interstate and drove east bound in the west bound lane at a high rate of speed.
The deputy lost sight of the suspect vehicle as it continued to drive into oncoming traffic. The suspect vehicle impacted a 2018 Ford Escape head-on as it was traveling west bound, killing Garcia, two passengers in his vehicle, Northcutt and 34-year-old Crystal Lee Moradie of Converse, Texas; and a passenger in the Escape, 54-year-old Kevin J. Andrews of Milton, Florida.
The fiery crash resulted in the closure of both lanes of westbound I-10 for a little more than four hours as crews worked to clear the scene, according to Tuesday’s release.
The driver of the Escape, identified as 81-year-old Joseph L. Andrews of St. Simons Island, Georgia, the father of the vehicle’s passenger, was airlifted to University Hospital in Mobile for treatment of serious injuries. It was announced on Thursday, April 4 that he had died of his injuries.
