Cornelia Police Officer Jimmy Frady was injured when the police vehicle he was driving was struck by an SUV at a red light Sunday night. (photo/Daniel Purcell)
Cornelia Police Chief Chad Smith says the officer injured in a wreck Sunday night in Cornelia “failed to yield” at a red light just before being struck by a Toyota Highlander. He previously stated the Toyota ran the light. “Closer inspection of the dash cam video shows there was not an arrow and the officer failed to yield,” Smith tells Now Habersham.
Officer Jimmy Frady was northbound on US 441/Hwy 385 attempting to turn left onto J Warren Road when the accident happened. The police SUV he was driving was struck on the passenger side by the Toyota driven by 61-year-old Debra Buchanan of Baldwin. The impact of the collision caused the police vehicle to overturn.
The accident happened around 7:40 p.m. Sunday, March 4,.
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Close call
Kristy Taylor of Mt. Airy drove up on the accident right after it happened. She says a minute sooner and she would have been in the middle of it. She and some others helped pull Officer Frady from the wrecked vehicle.
“After he got out of the car he was shaken and bleeding from a cut on his head,” says Taylor. “He was more concerned with the lady that hit him. He said he was going to check on a security guard and didn’t see the other car.”
She says Frady “had some pretty good knots on his head but was talking and ok when he was loaded in the ambulance.”
Trooper Trent Kirchhefer of Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa says both driver’s were in stable condition at the scene. He says they did not appear to suffer any “major injuries.”
Officer Frady was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. He was treated and released, according to Chief Smith.
Buchanan was transported to Habersham Medical Center with complaints of injuries to her chest and back.
Cornelia Police, Habersham County Sheriff’s deputies, Habersham EMS, and Georgia State Patrol (GSP) responded to the scene. The accident slowed traffic in the area as emergency crews tended to the victims and worked to clear debris.
GSP issued a warning to Officer Frady for failure to yield the right of way.
Updated 3/7/18
