Ride home from Wal-Mart kills half of the ‘four amigos’

Hours after his son died in the hospital, Pedro Hill and two buddies came to the crash site.

Blue paint marked where the tires of the Grand Marquis had veered from its lane on Roberson Mill Road.

Deep ruts in the grass showed where the 2003 Mercury bounced “like a basketball,” one rescuer said, before it crashed into a sign post at the BP gas station at the corner of Hilandale Drive.

Hill said his son, 18-year-old Jonathan Antonio Williams, and three of his friends were on their way home when Williams lost control of the at about 9:40 p.m. Monday.

“They went to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things,” Hill said. “They were best friends. I called them the four amigos because they stayed together.”

Williams died early Tuesday after being airlifted to the Medical Center, Navicent Health, in Macon.

His front-seat passenger, 14-year-old Christopher Jackson, died before firefighters could free him from the mangled sedan smashed up against the pole.

“He took his last breath in the car. We heard him,” Baldwin County Fire Department Battalion Chief Victor Young said.

In the 28 years Young’s been a firefighter, it was one of his toughest extrications.

Williams was crying for help as they worked to free him.

“I had him in my arms, and he was so entangled,” said Young, who returned to the scene Tuesday morning, about eight hours after Williams died about 1 a.m. “This guy hadn’t been driving long.”

A Georgia State Patrol release noted that Williams was “negotiating a left curve at a high rate of speed” while driving south on Roberson Mill, also known as Ga. 29.

A couple of blocks away from North Columbia Street and Milledgeville Mall, the car began to spin, hitting the curb.

The tires tore up the grass, and a pattern on the ground showed how the car shot into the air before hitting the post on the sign that displays gas prices. A number “4” was knocked loose and lying on the grass.

The back of the car rested on a fire hydrant near the corner of the convenience store lot.

Back seat passengers, 15-year-old Marquis Williams, whose relationship to Jonathan was not immediately known, and 16-year-old Ramonnt Briscoe, were hurt and taken to the Macon hospital.

Hill said the boys grew up together in the neighborhood around Charlton Street and its off-shoot named for Earnest Byner, who played for the Baldwin Braves before going on to the NFL.

His son was working on his GED certificate and was about to start a job with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Christopher was a student at Oak Hill Middle School, Baldwin County school system spokesman Byron Wellman said.

Grief counselors were at the school Tuesday to help students and teachers cope with the teens’ deaths.

Young said he thought of his own 16-year-old daughter in the wake of the crash.

“It really hit home,” Young said while taking a fresh look at the scene Tuesday morning. “I preach be careful when you’re driving. No texting, no talking on the telephone, stay in focus, don’t go too fast with your vehicle. I’m always telling my daughter stay safe and keep your seat belts on.”

He agreed that speed likely was a contributing factor.

A man who works next door to the BP said vehicles often travel at a fast clip around the curve by the railroad tracks. There’s also a dip in the road there, someone pointed out.

Young believes the close-knit community will rally around each other in the loss of the young men.

“It is tragic,” he said.

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Ride home from Wal-Mart kills half of the ‘four amigos’."