A driver was seriously injured Friday afternoon when his Jeep SUV left GA 255 Alternate (Ben T. Huiet Highway) and struck a tree. The crash occurred near GA 255 in the Sautee community outside of Batesville.
According to the Georgia State Patrol’s preliminary crash investigation, 37-year-old Leckey Barnett of Clarkesville was driving north on GA 255 and lost control in a curve. Troopers say Leckey overcorrected, spun out, and traveled off the roadway. The Jeep Grand Cherokee he was driving struck a tree, ran down an embankment and crashed into a fence.
Habersham County sheriff’s deputies and units from Habersham County Emergency Services (HCES) responded to the scene. They found the vehicle upright in a field off the roadway with the driver trapped inside, according to HCES spokesperson Rob Moore.
Emergency personnel freed Barnett from the wreckage and transported him to the hospital. Due to weather conditions, Moore says they could not airlift him. He was taken by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.
The 5:30 p.m. wreck on Nov. 1 snarled traffic for about an hour.
Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa investigated the wreck. State troopers charged Barnett with open container, failure to maintain lane, driving on a suspended license, and a seatbelt violation.
