A 27-year old Winder woman is charged with two counts of first degree vehicular homicide and DUI after allegedly causing a wreck that killed two people and injured three others in Rabun County on Tuesday. Kymbalee Ann Phillips is also charged with two counts of serious injury by vehicle, driving on the wrong side of the road and failure to maintain lane.
The accident happened just before 2:45 p.m. on Oct. 18th at the intersection of Hwy. 441 South and Wolf Creek Road.
State Patrol TFC Joseph Tucker say Phillips was driving a white Toyota Tacoma west on Wolf Creek when she made a left-hand turn and ended up traveling south in the northbound lanes of Hwy. 441. As she attempted to move into the southbound lanes her truck struck a Nissan Titan pickup carrying five people. The impact caused the Nissan to overturn twice, ejecting all four unrestrained adults from inside the vehicle. Tucker says a 4-year old child who was securely fastened in his car seat was not ejected.
Among those thrown from the truck were 23-year old Matthew Hester and 24-year old Sarah Bradshaw, both of Clayton. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Also thrown from the truck were 25-year old Jonathan Wayne Hester of Clayton and 23-year old Kimberly Paige Rohletter of Westminster, South Carolina. Hester was airlifted to Greenville in serious condition. Rohletter was transported along with the child, Anthony Rohletter, to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville with non-life-threatening injuries.
Phillips and a passenger in her truck, 61-year old Harold Thomas Phillips of Lakemont, were uninjured.
A portion of Hwy. 441 South near the crash site was closed for more than four hours as emergency crews worked to clear the wreckage. The road reopened at 7 p.m.
GSP’s Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team (SCRT) is investigating the accident.
Kymbalee Phillips is being held in the Rabun County Jail.
