ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF BARNESVILLE HERALD GAZETTE AND WALTER GEIGER.
In Barnesville one person was killed and six others were injured when two vehicles drag racing on Sims Street struck a third vehicle Saturday night about 10 p.m. The result of the impact took the life of Jonathan Maurice Byrd from Barnesville.
Byrd, 29, who had addressees on Forsyth Street and Ice Street in Barnesville, pulled out of Owens Lane and was struck by the two racing vehicles. The vehicles were driven by unidentified cousins who were traveling at a very high rate of speed. Coroner Jim Smith pronounced Byrd died at the scene. Two passengers in his vehicle were injured.
The racing cars were headed north on Sims Street. After striking Byrd’s vehicle, one ended on the right shoulder of the road. The second flipped end over end several times, ejecting three occupants before landing in a creek off the right shoulder of the road on Sims Street. A total of six victims were transported to area hospitals for treatment.
The accident resulted in a huge responce of emergency vehicles and personenel. There were as many as six Georgia State Troopers , multiple Barnesville Police Department Officers, Lamar County Deputies, along with dozens of Firefighters and Emergency Technicians all responded to the scene. Even though many of those who survived had serious injuries, Byrd was the only known fatality as of midnight, Saturday according to the Lamar County Coroner Jim Smith.
Corporal K.P. Pope of the Forsyth Post of the Georgia State Patrol is conducting the investigation.
WKEU would like to thank Walte Geiger and the Barnesville Herald Gazette for thier assistance in this news story. You can subscribe to the Herald Gazette on line at barnesville.com
