1 dead after ‘head-on’ crash with 18-wheel truck and SUV, Macon deputies say

An SUV driver died Thursday night in a head-on crash with a semi-truck in Macon, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said.

Donnie Paul Rowell, the Toyota Sequoia SUV driver from Warner Robins, merged into a lane with traffic going in the opposite direction just before 11 p.m. on Rocky Creek Road, according to the Bibb County sheriff’s and coroner’s offices.

Rowell, 45, was going east then merged into the westbound lane and “collided head-on with an 18-wheeler traveling westbound before Jennifer Drive,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The SUV was totaled, and the semi-truck’s front tractor were destroyed, according to photos from the Bibb County Coroner’s Office.

Rowell was pronounced dead at the scene just after 11 p.m., Coroner Leon Jones said. Rowell’s family was notified of his death.

The man who drove the Cowen Systems 18-wheel truck was uninjured, according to the sheriff’s and coroner’s offices.

The crash was still under investigation Friday morning, deputies said.

Anyone with information related to the collision was urged to call the sheriff’s office and ask to speak with a fatality investigator at 478-751-7500.

This story may be updated as more information becomes available.