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Thursday, Jul. 23, 2009

Ambulance struck while responding to fatal Peach County crash

FORT VALLEY — A Marshallville woman died from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle crash Wednesday afternoon at the Ga. 49 Connector and Woolfolk Road intersection near Fort Valley.

The incident was compounded when a Peach County ambulance responding to that crash was also in a wreck with a pickup truck. The pickup’s driver was charged with driving under the influence.

Annie Satterfield Harbuck, 90, was transported to The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, where she later died, said Georgia State Patrol Cpl. Elbert Slappy.

Harbuck was traveling south on Woolfolk Road in a 2006 Ford Taurus when she failed to yield for a stop sign and skidded through the intersection at Woolfolk Road and the Ga. 49 Connector at 5:11 p.m, Slappy said.

The car traveled across two west-bound lanes of traffic of the four-lane Ga. 49 Connector and was struck in an east-bound lane by a 2001 Ford F250 pickup truck driven by William Burke, 63, of Lincolnton, the trooper said.

Burke and passenger Brian Banks, 46, also of Lincolnton, were treated for minor injuries at The Medical Center of Georgia, Slappy said.

Also, a Peach County ambulance in route to the crash collided with a pickup truck at Hwy 341 near Peacan Road, said Peach County E911 Director Sheryl Hobbs.

Two medics, including the ambulance’s driver, were transported to Peach Regional Medical Center in Fort Valley for what were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries, Hobbs said.

The ambulance was among three responding to the crash on the Ga. 49 Connector, which meant another ambulance quickly reached the crash on the Ga. 49 Connector, Hobbs said.

“There was no delay in response,” Hobbs said.

The third ambulance actually came up behind the overturned ambulance off Hwy 341, Hobbs said.

Also, Peach County received mutual aid from Houston Healthcare’s Emergency Medical Service, the Mid Georgia Ambulance and the Medical Center’s Emergency Medical Service in either responding to the crashes or helping cover Peach County’s territory while its ambulances were tied up, Hobbs said.

Bennie Towns Sr., 51, of Fort Valley, the driver of the 2000 Chevrolet 1500 Silverado pickup that collided with the ambulance, was charged by GSP with failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and driving under the influence, Slappy said. Towns was also transported to The Medical Center.

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 923-3109.