Charges Pending Over Tuesday Accident

Authorities have said charges are pending in Tuesday’s two-car accident on the Toccoa By-pass in Stephens County.

It happened Tuesday afternoon during the 2 p.m. hour on the By-pass, or Georgia Highway 17, at its intersection with Currahee Lane.

The Toccoa post of the Georgia State Patrol said that a 2005 Ford DRW Super Duty was traveling north on Highway 17 in the right travel lane approaching the intersection of Currahee Lane.

Meanwhile, the GSP said a 2004 Jeep Cherokee was traveling east on Currahee Lane and was attempting to cross the northbound lanes of Highway 17 from the median crossover.

According to the GSP, the driver of the Jeep, 37-year-old Stacey Ragsdale Simpson of Toccoa, failed to yield to the Ford truck and pulled directly into its path of travel.

The driver of the Ford truck, 44-year-old Jeffrey Calvin Henslee of Rabun Gap, told the GSP that he saw the Jeep pull into his lane of travel but could not avoid impact.

Troopers went on to say that the front of the Ford truck then struck the passenger’s side of the Jeep, causing extensive damage to both vehicles.

The report wejt on to say that after impact, both vehicles came to an uncontrolled final rest on the east shoulder of Highway 17, just north of Currahee Lane facing east.

The driver of the Jeep, Simpson, was taken by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center with non-incapacitating injuries.

A passenger in the Jeep, 24-year-old Kristen Womack of Winder was taken by Airlife to Greenville Memorial with unspecified injuries and a second passenger in the Jeep, 22-year-old Jamie Lee Pearsall of Auburn, Georgia, was taken by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center with non-incapacitating injuries.

All three in the Jeep were trapped and had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life.

Meanwhile, the driver of the Ford truck, Henslee, and a passenger 61-year-old Bobby Dale Litrell of Rabun Gap, both reported non-incapacitating injuries but were not transported.