Victim of deadly 4-vehicle crash on Highway 6 identified

A four-vehicle chain-reaction crash early Wednesday that closed a stretch of southbound State Highway 6 in Robertson County left one man dead.

Authorities identified the victim as Austin Wittig, 23, of Franklin.

The accident, which happened at around 5:15 a.m. Wednesday a half mile south of the railroad trestle near OSR, involved a pickup truck, a car, an 18-wheeler and a motorcycle, Department of Public Safety Trooper Jimmy Morgan said.

The driver of the southbound 18-wheeler told authorities he was headed up a hill when a car hit the rear of his rig, Morgan said.

A pickup truck then hit the car, which veered into the northbound lanes where a northbound motorcycle struck it, Morgan said.

Wittig was the driver of the car.

He and two other drivers were taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Bryan where Wittig was pronounced dead.

The driver of the 18-wheeler and a passenger escaped injury.

The southbound lanes of the highway were closed as a result of the accident, the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office said.

All lanes were open again by just before 1 p.m.