A passenger involved in a head-on collision Saturday on Highway 17 near Clarkesville has died. Christopher Coffman, 22, passed away soon after medics transported him to the hospital, officials say.
Coffman was riding in a Jeep Renegade driven by 24-year-old Alexis White of Gainesville. The Georgia State Patrol corroborates eyewitness accounts that White ran the stop sign at the intersection of GA 17 and Habersham Mill Road Connector. The Jeep Renegade was struck head-on by a southbound Ford F150 driven by Melvin Thompson, 61, of Clarkesville.
White suffered severe leg trauma and abdominal injuries. Thompson sustained lower leg injuries. Habersham EMS transported all three to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for treatment.
Habersham County E-911 dispatched emergency crews to the scene around 4:18 p.m. on August 6 after nearby residents called to report the crash.
The impact of the crash caused the truck to spin in the road, and the Jeep flipped over and ran down an embankment, according to eyewitness Donn Nelson.
“I seen [sic] the green car blow through the stop sign, and the gold F-150 was going that way, and it was a straight-on head-on collision,” he says. Nelson and another man rushed to the wreckage. “We flipped the car over and kept them conscious until the EMTs got here. I did the best I could for her,” he says, referring to White.
Nelson’s wife, Lizz, was sitting with her husband on the front porch of their house on Highway 17 and saw the tragedy unfold.
“Luckily, we were able to get down there, and the EMTs showed up pretty quickly, thank goodness.”
White and Coffman were trapped inside the Jeep. It took first responders 30 minutes to free them from the wreckage, according to Habersham County Emergency Services Capt. Matt Ruark.
Personnel from multiple agencies in Habersham, Clarkesville, and Demorest responded to the scene. A trooper from Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa investigated the crash. Highway 17 traffic was stalled in both directions near the crash site as emergency crews and tow trucks worked to clear the wreckage.
