I-75 wreck damages Tift deputies’ cars; no serious injuries

TIFTON, Ga. – According to our news partners with the Tifton Grapevine newsletter, no one was seriously injured Monday when an SUV rammed into a Tift County Sheriff’s patrol car, pushing it into another patrol car, as deputies were redirecting traffic around a stalled vehicle on Interstate 75 near Exit 59, the Georgia State Patrol said.

Two Tift County Sheriff’s patrol cars were severely damaged when they were rammed Monday by an SUV on Interstate 75 in Tift County. No one was seriously injured.

The incident occurred at approximately noon in the southbound lanes, said GSP Sgt. Phillip Kilgore with Tifton Post 13.

The chain of events began when a vehicle, driven by Dhales Slack, 23, of Fitzgerald, started shaking, the trooper said. Slack then pulled off Exit 59 and exited her vehicle as she called for assistance but left her car in drive, the GSP said.

The car then traveled across Southwell Boulevard and back onto the interstate. It crossed the southbound lanes, striking a concrete barrier at the far left lane, Sgt. Kilgore said. The vehicle was partially blocking the left lane of traffic, and Tift County deputies responded to redirect traffic around the car, the trooper said.

That’s when an SUV driven by Thomas Watson of West Palm Beach, Fla., struck a deputy’s patrol car, ramming it into another parked patrol vehicle, Kilgore said.

The SUV driver was apparently “distracted by something within his vehicle, and when he looked up he saw the patrol car” but couldn’t stop in time, the trooper said. The SUV attempted to swerve into the middle lane and back, forcing other vehicles to react as debris was scattered across the lanes.

“Nobody was seriously injured,” Sgt. Kilgore said.

Watson, the SUV driver, was charged with failure to execute due care, and Slack, who left her vehicle in drive, was charged with reckless conduct, the trooper said.

By: FRANK SAYLES JR., Tifton Grapevine

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