A two-vehicle crash claimed the life of a Carrollton man Saturday morning.
John Charles Rowley, 47, lost control of his motorcycle and overturned on Highway 166 near Jones Dairy Road in Carrollton around 9 a.m. Saturday.
Rowley struck a trailer being pulled by a Dodge Ram 3500 on the roadway, authorities with the Georgia State Patrol said. Rowley was the only fatality; the other driver was not injured.
Also over the weekend, a local church sent prayer requests over Facebook after a car accident in Florida left its pastor in critical condition.
Allen Howard, 56, pastor of Bethany Christian Church in Carrollton, was being driven by his wife, Ronda, in Okaloosa Island, Fla., when a black Mercedes ran a red light and crashed into the front of Howard's white Ford pick-up truck.
The most recent updates from family members say that Howard is awake, but in a lot of pain and does not remember anything from the accident.
He was scheduled to have a halo brace placed Monday morning. His wife has been discharged from the hospital, with a broken pelvis.
Injuries sustained by Allen in the crash included a broken heel and ankle, two fractures in his pelvis and two fractures in his neck.
Neal Weathington, choir director at Bethany Christian and longtime friend of the Howards, said Allen will most likely be in the trauma center in Pensacola for "quite some time."
Weathington said Ronda is currently recovering at a friend's home in Florida. Ronda is an early intervention program teacher at Whitesburg Elementary School.
The three-car wreck on U.S. Highway 98 Sunday evening caused traffic to back up for miles several hours after the accident.
Raliek Boswell, who lives in Fort Bragg, N.C., was driving the black Mercedes eastbound on Hwy. 98 when he crashed into two pick-up trucks that were both turning west on the highway from Santa Rosa Boulevard, Florida Highway Patrol reported.
The two trucks were each in one of the two turn lanes.
The Howards' truck appeared to have flipped over several times, firefighters reported. They had to cut off the roof of the truck to pullthe Howardsout.
Allen was taken to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola by a medical helicopter, where he is currently stabilized.
Boswell, the man who ran the red light, was also taken to Pensacola, where he remained in critical condition Monday morning. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the wreck, FHP reported.
Ronda and the driver of the other truck involved in the pile-up were taken to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center with minor injuries.
Howard has served as senior pastor at Bethany Christian since January 1983. A native of Savannah and graduate of Atlanta Christian College, he and Ronda have two sons and two granddaughters.
Photos from the accident can be seen on the Northwest Florida Daily News website, www.nwfdailynews.com.
Post a Comment