By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – State Police investigators on Monday released the name of the driver killed in a Thursday morning accident on the Hale Boggs Bridge in St. Charles Parish.

Jessica Cancienne, 18, of Hahnville was behind the wheel of a 2008 Mazda Tribute that crashed into the rear of a garbage truck around 4:15 a.m. Thursday near milepost 7.3 on southbound Interstate 310. Authorities said Cancienne, the only person in the Mazda, died at the scene.

According to a release from State Police Troop B, the garbage truck, driven by Lawrence Robertson, 43, of Kenner, was traveling in the right lane of I-310 south when Cancienne’s vehicle, also in the right lane, struck the truck from the rear.

Troop B Spokesperson Melissa Matey said the Mazda then veered to the left and struck a guardrail on the side of the bridge. The vehicle then became engulfed in flames, according to the report.

Investigators are still trying to determine why the Mazda struck the rear of the garbage truck. Matey said speed is suspected to have been a factor in the crash. A toxicology report on the victim is also pending.

Cancienne is a 2008 graduate of Hahnville High School and was enrolled at Delgado Community College in New Orleans studying for a career in speech pathology.