An 80-year-old Clarkesville man was injured Thanksgiving Day when his pickup ran off the road and overturned in the Soque River. A Habersham Sheriff’s deputy vehicle responding to the call also overturned.
William Walters was driving a Ford-F-150 on GA-197 North south of Batesville when he failed to negotiate a curve and ran off the road. The truck traveled down an embankment, overturned, and came to rest on its top in the Soque River.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, Walters was able to exit from the rear window. A passing motorist helped him climb the embankment to the shoulder of the road.
A K-9 deputy from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office who was in the area responded to the scene.
“While attempting to make the area more visible to oncoming traffic, the deputy backed his patrol vehicle on the right shoulder of GA 197 North,” says Trooper First Class Vance Henry of Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa. “The soft shoulder and drainage pipe beneath the roadway gave way, causing the vehicle to overturn.”
The deputy’s Ford Explorer landed on its top. Deputy Jason East and his K-9 both escaped uninjured.
The accidents occurred shortly after 8:30 a.m. Thanksgiving Day amid dense, foggy conditions. Habersham EMS transported Walters to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for treatment of his injuries.
