Crash Destroys Historic Atlanta Office Building

ATLANTA — The Rucker Building, believed to be the city’s first office building for blacks, and part of the Martin Luther King Jr. historic district, has been reduced to rubble by a deadly car crash.

Police said a Georgia State University student veered her sport-utility vehicle between two light poles and crashed into the corner of the building after another driver swerved toward her. Much of the three-story structure crumbled.

The student, 23-year-old Traci M. Finger, was killed in the Sept. 14 accident. Police charged the other driver, Daniel Poul, with vehicular homicide.

The building, named for Henry Rucker, a prominent black Republican who was the state and federal tax collector in the early 1900s, had been vacant for years. The Historic District Development Corp. was planning to start converting it into a Southern-themed restaurant.