Trooper involved in 3-car wreck
Emergency crews responding to the wreck tie up traffic on Ga. 140 for hours Friday morning.
A three-vehicle wreck involving a Georgia State Patrol officer and residents of Rome and Gaylesville, Alabama, caused a major traffic problem on Ga. 140 west of Adairsville Friday morning.
GSP Sgt. Kyle Tanner said no one was seriously injured, though Trooper Justin Henderson was taken to Floyd Medical Center for a checkup after the wreck.
The biggest problem was traffic on the busy east-west highway, which is already congested due to the four-lane widening project.
Traffic was reduced to one lane, alternating eastbound and westbound flow until the vehicles could be removed from both sides of the highway.
Sgt. Tanner said Trooper Henderson was west
bound on the two-lane when he clocked a motorist exceeding the speed
limit in the east bound lane. “(Henderson) attempted to turn around to make a traffic stop and — upon (his) approaching from the rear — both drivers (ahead of him) started to slow significantly, and he was trying to slow as well,” Tanner said. “Basically he tried to avoid them and lost control.”
At that point, the trooper’s vehicle hit a Chrysler Sebring driven by Marcus Pinson, 29, of Rome, knocking the Chrysler into a Cadillac driven by Daniel Royer, 21, of Gaylesville.
Royer’s vehicle crossed the west bound lanes and slammed into a highway sign cautioning motorists about the highway widening work.
The GSP cruiser and Chrysler Sebring both veered off the south shoulder and went down an embankment. The Chrysler flipped up on its side, while the GSP cruiser left the road and went down the shoulder at a 90-degree angle.
Pinson’s wife and two small children were also in the Chrysler, but all of them were able to get out of the vehicle without serious injuries.
The wreck is still under investigation.