One woman died in a wreck between a car and a tractor trailer on I-24 today, according to Chattanooga police.
The wreck happened across from Moccasin Bend, near mile marker 178 at about 9:20 a.m. and shut down the interstate for several hours.
Police identified the woman as 27-year-old Cassandra A. Mason. Authorities say three children in the back seat were taken to a hospital but none of them were seriously injured.
Witnesses told police that Mason's vehicle slammed into a stopped tractor-trailer at close to 70 miles per hour. The tractor trailer was reportedly at a standstill behind other stopped traffic. One witness said Mason did not decrease her speed before the crash.
Mason was pronounced dead at the scene. She is the mother of two of the children, police said; one child was the son of the victim's boyfriend. The father of the other two children is reportedly on the way from Nebraska to take custody of his children.
An investigation is ongoing.