Morning wreck near Clarkesville sends 2 to hospital

First responders work to free a driver from a wrecked vehicle near the intersection of GA 197 North and Wall Bridge Road north of Clarkesville on Nov. 6, 2023. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)

A two-vehicle crash north of Clarkesville Monday morning sent two people to the hospital with minor injuries.

Around 9:25 a.m., a Toyota RAV4 and Dodge Dakota pickup truck collided on GA 197 North at Wall Bridge Road.

According to the Georgia State Patrol, Milagros Sanchez Maldonado, 60, of Cornelia, was driving the RAV4. As she exited the Bethlehem Baptist Church parking lot, Maldonado pulled into the path of a southbound pickup driven by Thaddeus Jay Erdahl, 45, of Cornelia.

The damaged front end of the Dodge Dakota pickup truck (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)

The impact injured Maldonado and a passenger in her vehicle, Kanellys Reyes Rivera, 30, of Cornelia.

Maldonado was trapped inside the vehicle. Clarkesville firefighters had to free her from the wreckage.

Habersham County Emergency Services transported both women to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville to be treated for minor injuries.

The collision did not injure Erdahl.

Troopers from Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa investigated the wreck. They charged Maldonado with failure to yield.

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