A chain-reaction wreck on GA 365 north of Gainesville on Friday injured eight people and sent five of them to the hospital.
The accident happened around 3:30 p.m. half a mile south of Ramsey Road in northern Hall County.
According to Georgia State Patrol Post 6 in Gainesville, all of the vehicles were traveling north when four of them stopped for heavy traffic. The fifth vehicle, a Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by Johnathan Kent, 60, of Lookout Mountain, was following too closely and rear-ended a Ford F150 driven by Amber Orr, 43, of Cornelia.
The impact set off a rear-end chain reaction involving an SUV and two other pickups. Three vehicles came to a stop in the median, two others blocked both lanes of the highway. The wreck temporarily shut down the northbound lanes of GA 365 near the crash site, snarling Friday afternoon commuter traffic.
All five drivers and three passengers in an Acura MDX involved in the wreck suffered minor injuries or complaints of injuries. Hall County EMS transported Orr and the occupants of the Acura to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for treatment.
Troopers say, John Lee, 51, of Semmes, Alabama, was driving the Acura. The passengers were Windy Lee age 49, and Jessica Lee, 22, also of Semmes, and 23-year-old Pavin Hasselberger of Saraland, Alabama.
Kent and the two other pickup truck drivers — 39-year-old Christopher Ansley of Demorest and 50-year-old Wayne Garner of Alto — complained of injuries but were not transported to the hospital, according to GSP.
The State Patrol charged Kent with following too closely.
