October 26, 2004
Colquitt County - Two cars collide on a busy south Georgia two lane highway, killing a driver and her passenger. The only survivor is the man who is to blame.
Jeffery Burch was heading down Highway 133, near Doerun, around 10:45 Tuesday morning. Burch explains, "We were going toward Moultrie."
When a white car up ahead was crushed in an instant. He adds, "It scared me badly."
The driver died instantly and her passenger, 66-year-old Ester Major, of Moultrie died later at the hospital. Burch says he saw, "Stuff going everywhere when they hit."
The driver of the silver Chevrolet Caprice, 23-year-old Jerry Bankston, was coming from the other direction and tried to pass a six wheeler on the two lane road. Instead, he struck the white car head on. Burch adds, "The white car went sideways and went airborne, for probably about three or four feet in the air."
The two car crash made Highway 133 a parking lot. A line of truck drivers waited for two hours. Truck Driver, Brad Harbuck, says, "We always have something everyday to slow us down, I just hate to see something like this."
Thomasville Georgia State Trooper David Ellis agrees, "You can't get used to this because you have to think that was somebody's grandmother or sister, you got to think about that."
Bankston is in serious condition, but stable. Charges are pending.
It's a mistake Bankston will probably never forget and either will those who watched it happen.
Troopers have not released the name of the driver who died. She was living in Moultrie, but is originally from another state.
posted at 5:30PM by kathryn.simmons@walb.com
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