It’s the kind of wreck you wonder how someone walks away from, but Donna James of Clarkesville did. After running off the shoulder of the road, striking a mailbox and utility pole, and flipping over a fence, the 53-year-old James walked away with just a few scratches.
The accident happened at 2:55 p.m. Friday, April 24, on GA-105/Cannon Bridge Road near Fairview Elementary School in Demorest. According to the State Patrol report, James told the Trooper she “briefly looked away from the road” and ran off the road while negotiating a curve.
“We arrived to find her still in the vehicle, seat-belted and upside down,” says Habersham County Emergency Services (HCES) Director Chad Black. He says the power company apparently was in the area or came upon the accident and “fortunately, was able to secure the power quickly.”
James, who Now Habersham readers know well from her years-long column “Mondays with Mom,” shared a picture of her battered vehicle on Facebook proclaiming, “God is in the protecting business!”
She says she’s “grateful for seatbelts and airbags” and praises the HCES EMTs and Habersham EMC linemen who helped her after the wreck. “There were lines on my car, so it was too dangerous for them to get me out. I hung upside down for a while,” she says, adding that the EMTs and linemen were “fantastic.”
Law enforcement temporarily shut down a section of Cannon Bridge Road near the crash site as crews worked to free James from the wreckage. The road remained closed until linemen replaced the utility pole and repaired the damaged electrical lines.
