WALTON COUNTY — A 24-year-old Lawrenceville citizen was killed Sunday morning in an accident on Highway 20 less than a mile from the Rockdale County line.
According to Walton County Sheriff’s Office officials, a vehicle pulled out of a nearby driveway onto the northbound lane of the highway. While pulling out, the vehicle struck another vehicle which lost control and ended up in the southbound lane, resulting in an almost head-on collision and killing the passenger.
WCSO officials said the passenger was wearing a seat belt but the impact caused severe head traumas. The passenger, whose name was being withheld until next of kin could be notified, went into cardiac arrest while being prepped for airlift to an Atlanta hospital. Emergency medical personnel were transporting the victim to Rockdale Medical Center but died while in route.
MONROE — The Monroe Police Department officer whose use of a racial slur was caught on a patrol car video camera was suspended five days without pay following the completion of an investigation.
First-year officer Sam Harrison’s suspension will begin today, punishment for the racially charged comment he made hours after the arrest of a black suspect May 18.
Harrison, who MPD officials said had no previous blemishes on his record, originally was placed on administrative leave with pay. However, MPD Chief Keith Glass told the city’s Public Safety Committee at a special meeting Monday he had conferred with his staff, other law enforcement officials and city attorneys and determined a five-day suspension was in order and he will not fire Harrison, who has been on administrative leave since June 11.
MONROE — Police are looking for a suspect who robbed a Home Depot employee in broad daylight Tuesday afternoon.
According to reports, a white male decked out in full camouflage with a hockey mask covering his face approached a 24-year-old employee of the home improvement chain while he was cleaning out a hay trailer in the parking lot. It was just after noon when the masked man allegedly pointed a small-caliber pistol at the employee and demanded cash. According to reports, the employee pulled $100 out of his pocket but the gunman only took a $50 bill.
The assailant then ran north from the building, across a field and over a fence before crossing Highway 10 and continuing up a hill.
LOGANVILLE — An accident involving a motorcycle and a sport-utility vehicle Thursday on Highway 81 resulted in the third traffic fatality in Walton County this year.
According to reports, Tracy Wilson Harrison, 41, of 6434 High Point Ridge, Loganville, was driving south on Highway 81 heading toward Loganville. As she approached the intersection with Lee Byrd Road, Harrison attempted to turn left early as Paul D. Beason, 32, of 4715 Rock Springs Court, Loganville, was traveling northbound on Highway 81.
Beason, who was on a motorcycle, was unable to avoid the impact with Harrison’s vehicle and scraped along the passenger side of the car before striking the wheel well, where he was then thrown from the motorcycle, according to Loganville Police Department Lt. J. H. Fain II.
WALTON COUNTY — A fire early last week claimed the life of a Walton County resident.
Ossie Hanson, 86, died of smoke inhalation at the burn center in Augusta after a space heater caused a fire at the home of her sister Edna Hester at 1628 Barton Bridge Road.
“The space heater in the back bathroom was the cause of the fire,” said Walton County Fire Rescue Chief Mike Moore. “It was an old space heater and while it’s unclear whether there was anything nearby to catch fire, the fire marshal determined the heater was the cause of the fire.”
WALTON COUNTY — Some people take their work home with them at the end of the day.
Walton County homeowner Mark Brown, however, had it follow him home — then nearly fall on him.
Brown came to his Pleasant Valley Road home after a ride through the country Wednesday night to find an airplane tire stuck in his attic after it crashed into his roof from above.
MONROE — A recent fire at the Broad Street offices of Angel Food Ministries occurred due to an employee’s smoke break.
“It was accidental,” said Lt. Bill Owen, of the Monroe Fire Department. “It started through careless smoking which ignited some pine straw and from there the building.”
The building was a small storage shed behind the main offices of the local charity and the fire burned quickly, throwing massive clouds of smoke into the air.
I was driving up 400 and a cop stopped me for speeding. There was traffic to my right so I pulled over to the left against the median wall. The officer was agitated with me and I didn't like his attitude. I couldn't pull over to the right because of the traffic. What should I have done? Was I dumb to do that?
Dear Dummy:
Having been there myself, I'm guessing the officer was a bit on the agitated side knowing that he was about to be run over. The only thing that would fit in that lane is a clown car so I'm sure half of yours and the cop's car, which of course is behind yours and will be the first one hit, was sticking out there to be hit by one of our fine drivers who just may be on his or her cell phone, texting something insignificant that could have waited.
WALTON COUNTY — Four years after he lost his re-election bid for sheriff, Al Yarbrough is setting his sights on the man who unseated him.
The 61-year-old Angel Food Ministries employee will take on incumbent Sheriff Joe Chapman in the Republican Primary on July 15.
Chapman defeated Yarbrough in the GOP contest four years ago and then beat Democrat Nathaniel Rakestraw later that year. Yarbrough points to his 33 years in law enforcement as a reason why he should be elected.
MONROE — A man who requested a meeting with the FBI died while agents were driving him in the city Feb. 11.
James Jackson, 56, of Monroe, died after being transported to Walton Regional Medical Center after two men who identified themselves as FBI agents called emergency personnel shortly after 12 p.m. on Feb. 11.
Jackson said he had a head injury “which happened a long time ago,” according to Monroe Fire Department documents, and did not appear to be in custody, according to emergency personnel on scene. He had an extremely elevated blood pressure, according to MFD documents.
