Police Identify Driver in Fiery Lilburn Crash

Updated, 4:40 p.m.

Local police have identified the driver who died in a fiery one-car accident that took place Tuesday (April 23) in Lilburn.

The victim was Larrie Elatrice Wilkerson, 61, of Norcross, according to Lilburn Police.

Wilkerson’s red 2000 Ford Explorer crashed into a pole at the intersection of Indian Trail Road and Lawrenceville Highway around 3:40 p.m. The gas tank ruptured and the car immediately caught on fire, according to the incident report.

The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner’s Office believes Wilkerson died on impact and before the car became engulfed in flames. The cause of the accident has been determined as driver error, said Lilburn Police Chief Bruce Hedley.

The accident report states that Wilkerson was traveling west on Lawrenceville Highway when she entered the right turn lane for Indian Trail. She did not apply any brakes and continued straight into the traffic signal pole at the corner of the intersection.

One witness traveling on Indian Trail said she was going to proceed through the intersection until she saw the SUV traveling at a high rate of speed. She saw the car jump the curb and strike the pole, and the flames started less than 10 seconds from impact.

Another witness said Wilkerson's car appeared to be going 70 miles per hour. She looked like she was attempting to "thread the needle" between two stopped vehicles and the light pole on Highway 29, according to the report.

When police first arrived, the body was so severely burned that the responding officer could not tell if the body belonged to a female or male. The medical examiner was able to confirm Wilkerson's identity through dental records.

A fleet mechanic looked at the vehicle to see if the brakes contributed to the accident, but he determined that they should have been working properly.

Wilkerson's brother told police that she was seeing a psychiatrist and had tried to commit suicide when she was a teenager, but he didn't believe the crash was a suicide attempt. After looking through her apartment, investigators did not find any signs that she was planning to kill herself.

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