5 injured in holiday wrecks
Published 11:59 pm Monday, December 29, 2008
At least five people in the state died over the Christmas holiday period, and while luckily none were from Covington County, the county did experience a number of traffic accidents.
Two people were injured locally during the 102-hour holiday travel period, which ended midnight Sunday, and another three were injured on Monday.
Three accidents occurred on Saturday — one on Sunnyside Street in River Falls; another shortly after noon on Ard Creek Road, near Alabama Highway 137, and one on First Avenue in Andalusia. There were no injuries in any of those accidents.
A one-vehicle accident on State Hwy. 55 at the 7.3-mile marker Sunday sent two to the hospital when a 1987 Ford, driven by Devin Reed Miller, 31, of Defuniak Springs, Fla., left the roadway. The vehicle’s occupant, Wendy Warren, 28, of Samson, was also injured. Neither was believed to have sustained life-threatening injuries.
Monday saw numerous accidents — the first occurring shortly after 7 a.m., another at 8:15 a.m. and other minor fender benders throughout the day.
The first accident, which occurred on South Three Notch Street, sent an unknown number of people to the hospital for treatment, according to law enforcement personnel.
The second accident sent three men to the hospital when their 2007 Chevrolet work truck ran off the road and ended up in the woods off of Straughn School Road.
Injured were the driver, 35-year-old Kenneth E. McKissack of Dothan and passengers, William Caine and Michael Peters, both 35.
Reports indicate no one suffered any life threatening injuries during the accidents.
Dorris Teague, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety, said the state’s five traffic fatalities occurred in Mobile, Cullman, Escambia, Butler and St. Clair counties.
Teague said alcohol was a factor in at least one death, that none of the five people killed wore seat belts and four were ejected from a vehicle.
In 2007, 15 people died in traffic accidents on Alabama roadways during the 102-hour Christmas period.