3 murder charges from Ky. highway crash

An out-of-control pickup truck crossed a highway median and struck oncoming vehicles, killing a pregnant woman and an 8-year-old boy and injuring several others, police said.

The truck driver faces murder and drunken driving charges.

The pickup, pulling a trailer, was traveling north Monday evening when it crossed the median of Interstate 75 and struck the vehicles in the southbound lanes, just north of the Kentucky-Tennessee line, police said.

It struck a car, killing the boy, then overturned and struck a minivan, killing a pregnant woman who was a passenger, police said. A third vehicle was struck by debris from the truck.

The pickup driver, Raymond J. Garner, 45, of Andersonville, Tenn., was charged with drunken driving, three murder counts and driving on a suspended license, State Police Sgt. Steve Walker said. One murder charge stemmed from the death of the woman's unborn baby. He was treated at a hospital before being moved to the Whitley County jail, police said.

The three vehicles that were struck were carrying 14 people. State police did not specify how many people were injured.

Earlier, a Kentucky State Police trooper at the scene told Lexington television stations four people were dead. A state police spokesman in Frankfort, Lt. Phil Crumpton, sad he could not immediately explain the discrepancy.