Two cars tragically crashed southwest of LaGrange, Ga. Friday night, killing five people and injuring two, Georgia State Patrol told the LaGrange Daily News. Alcohol is suspected in this incident, the paper reported.
Both drivers have been identified as Willie Hooks, 28, and Kay Lemmon, 23, both of LaGrange, according to the LaGrange Daily News.
Georgia State Police told the LaGrange Daily News that Hooks was driving a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass north when he passed a car in a no-passing zone and then collided with Lemmon's 1995 Pontiac GrandAm, as she drove south on West Point Road.
Blood was drawn from Hooks to determine his alcohol level, the Georgia State Police told the LaGrange Daily News.
Three of the Pontiac passengers died, the newspaper reported, and two others were critically wounded. Pending family notification, the identities of the other victims have been withheld, according to the paper. According to Georgia State Police, as reported by the LaGrange Daily News, Hooks and four people in the other vehicle were killed. The two survivors were airlifted to Columbus and Atlanta hospitals.
John Hart told the LaGrange Daily News that he witnessed the incident. He was driving northbound on West Point Road, toward LaGrange with his wife and three grandchildren, when he saw the Oldsmobile Cutlass pass him at a high rate of speed, colliding with the Pontiac driving southbound, the LaGrange Daily News reported. He said he saw the Cutlass driving in the opposite lane and continue up a slight knoll. The Pontiac had just come over the other side of the knoll when the Cutlass collided with it at full speed, the paper reported.
"By the time you saw the headlights of the Pontiac come over the other side of that knoll, it was maybe two seconds before the cars crashed," Hart told the LaGrange Daily News. The Pontiac looked like it had just started to veer to the right when they hit head-on and came to a complete stop."
Hart, his wife and people in surrounding cars got out to help, as he dialed 911, he told the LaGrange Daily News.
Hart told the paper that Hooks was on the floor of the Cutlass, which was bent like an L. He said he saw four women in the Pontiac not making any noise, although one appeared to be gasping for breath.
Troop County Coroner Jeff Cook confirmed the five fatalities, according to the LaGrange Daily News, and while state troopers still investigate the scene of the crash, West Point Road has been re-opened.
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