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Eatonton Fire Department first responders work to rescue a driver trapped in an SUV after crashing into a log truck Monday. CONTRIBUTED/EPD -
CONTRIBUTED
An Alabama woman who crashed into a log truck in Eatonton on Nov. 13 is miraculously back home, authorities say.
“She walked in here (Eatonton Police Department) today to pick up her (belongings) that were in her car, and I couldn’t believe it,” Chief Howell Cardwell said last Tuesday. “It’s just a miracle that she’s all right.”
Pamela Knight, 48, was driving her 2010 Lexus RX350 in the southbound lane of the Eatonton Bypass on Monday, Nov. 13, according to information from Sgt. Nicholas Carter, of the Georgia State Patrol Post 8 office in Madison.
Also traveling southbound on the Bypass directly in front of her was a 1995 International Semi-Truck fully loaded with logs. Around 6:45 p.m., both vehicles reportedly traveled through the intersection of State Route 16 and Monticello Road.
A short distance south of the intersection, Knight “followed too closely to the rear of (the semi-truck),” Carter said, referencing information from Trooper First Class Tyler Easter who worked the wreck. The front of Knight’s Lexus crashed into the rear of the log truck, forcing the logs to go through the windshield of the SUV and the vehicles became stuck together.
The truck driver was able to come to a controlled stop on the shoulder of the road.
Cardwell estimates there were about 30 logs stuck inside, outside, and around the SUV, and Eatonton Fire Department personnel cleared them away with chainsaws and used special tools to get Knight out of the SUV. She was treated at the scene by Putnam County EMS and taken to an area hospital, according to Cardwell.
“The area of impact was determined by debris,” Carter noted. “No brake markings were observed on the roadway prior to impact.”
Details of the crash remain under investigation by the Georgia State Patrol.
Cardwell said Knight is a registered nurse who travels to work at various hospitals, and that is why she was in the area.