http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories...t_100168.shtml
Mother, child die in wreck
Twin brother in fair condition
By Jeremy Craig| Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006

A young Waynesboro mother and her 3-year-old daughter were killed in a Wednesday afternoon tractor-trailer wreck on Mike Padgett Highway, authorities said.

Richmond County Deputy Coroner Charlena Graham said Julie Dorn-George, 26, and her daughter, Breanna George, died in the accident in the 4100 block of Mike Padgett Highway, near International Paper.

An autopsy will be performed today at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab in Augusta, Ms. Graham said.

Breanna's twin brother, Barton, was rushed to Medical College of Georgia Hospital, police said.

A hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday night that Barton was listed in fair condition.

The wreck happened after 1 p.m., said sheriff's Capt. Jim Griffin, head of the sheriff's office's south precinct.

Thomas Lattimore, 37, of Ohio, was driving north on Mike Padgett Highway and had picked up a load from Federal Paperboard when he pulled over to the right in what Capt. Griffin called an "acceleration lane" to look at a map.

Mrs. Dorn-George, who was driving a Chevrolet Astro van, apparently drifted into the acceleration lane, ramming the back of Mr. Lattimore's tractor-trailer, the captain said.

The entire front of the van was crushed, jammed underneath the back of the rig.

There were no skidmarks on the ground that would indicate that Mrs. Dorn-George had time to apply the brakes, the captain said.

Capt. Griffin said Mr. Lattimore was charged with improper stopping in a road.

"The lane is established as an acceleration lane, and is intended for large vehicles to get enough speed to get up the hill," Capt. Griffin said. "It is not a shoulder."

"He had no justifiable reason to stop there."

Mr. Lattimore was shaken by the accident.

"I won't be right from this anymore," he said. "Just to see that kid put on the ambulance, that ... did it."

Further charges are pending, Capt. Griffin said.

Reach Jeremy Craig at (706) 823-3409 or [email protected].

From the Thursday, October 12, 2006 edition of the Augusta Chronicle



He's also being charged with 2 counts of vehiclular homicide.

r you implying this is another wreck for usa trucking out of van buren ark. if it is they hav a sht ld of prblms ths year whats the limit on deaths ths year for them 10, 20, 30.

I'd steer clear of that Scale at Van Buren for awhile. Not the place to be.

i get nervous driving by their in a pickup let alone a semi.
http://www.wrdw.com/traffic/4383241.html
looks like thomas needs to pull his pants up.
loks like he will also only be charged with stopping violation for now

So, the driver of the van failed to controll her vehicle and ran into the truck. I wonder what she was on or doing that she drifed off her lane. Maby he should not have stopped in the lane because it was an acceleration lane, but then again she should have not been driving in it. She hit the truck. Both at fault.

Sounds like another case of a stupid, distracted 4-wheeler driver to me. I wonder how well marked the "acceleration lane" was. Were there any "no parking" signs there? What's there to distinguish it from a shoulder?

How many of us has stopped to check a map in an unfamiliar area just to make sure we don't miss our exit?

As tragic as this may be but;

Female+mini van+kids= soccer mom looking back to check on the kid, and not watching the road in front of her., especially with no skid marks.

Whatever happened to hitting someone from behind is not the fault of the person that was hit, but the fault of the person that rear ended the lead vehicle. That is a charge of "not having care and control" or if speeding was involved then it becomes careless driving.

I have a long time female friend whos father is an O/O and he told me a story of him having to ditch his T/T into the right hand ditch as a female in a car crossed over into his lane and was comming head on with him, due to her bent around and fiddling with the kids in the back seat.

I heard of a company driver that works for my company (well did at the time don't know if they still do) that was at an interstate exit intersection around Dallas, right near our OC. He was on the access road. a collision on the interstate roadway went offroad and struck his truck on the access road. Someone died in the whole thing. He had nothing to do with the accident. Him/the company was sued because he couldn't prove he was sitting in the OC for 10 hrs (the break) either because the qualcomm wasn't tracking right, or he forgot to update his logs. Either way, that wreck cost my company a lot of money. So as you can see stranger things can happen


Now back to USA trucker. He was parked (standing) on a roadway. He didn't have triangles out, a fatality wreck occured. Why 'would you not' think he would be charged and or at fault for at least improper parking and vehicular homicide?


Very simply while violating one of GA title 40 codes he caused the death of another individual. In my state (state of occurance) that is vehicular homicide. The only thing after that to go over is the severity as it relates to each particular case.


He may not be charged in 'this' case, as I think most truly believe it was indeed an 'accident', that doesn't mean he couldn't be. I'm sure if his logs were messed up or he was illegal with dot somehow he would be hammered with it, especially in that court.

If I'm not mistaken unless you're going to sit for less than 10 minutes you aren't required to put out your triangles per FMCSR correct? And when's the last time you looked at a map just to make sure you're goin in the right direction that took you more than 10 minutes?

That's the point, what's/who is to prove he wasn't there more than 10 minutes, and to answer your question, I'm quite astute at writing good directions down before I go to bed the following night, but yes; there have been a few times I went the wrong way, and had to find a 'safe' place to pull over. Usually that entailed me going into a parking lot, NOT in the middle of the ROADWAY. Remember he wasn't on the shoulder, he was in the middle of the paved and marked roadway.