Memorial Day turned tragic for a local family when a local man lost his life in a vehicle crash.
Johnie Prothro, 85, of Eatonton, was killed around 2 p.m. in the wreck on State Route 16/Sparta Highway.
Prothro, who was driving his Kia Soul eastbound, was making a left turn onto Long Shoals Road, which leads to his home. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said Prothro failed to yield to oncoming traffic and crashed into a Ford F-250 being driven by 27-year-old Jesse Wilkes, of Dublin. The impact forced the pickup into the ditch.
Wilkes and his passenger, a 23-year-old female also from Dublin, were not injured. Prothro was taken by ambulance to Putnam General Hospital, where an emergency department physician pronounced him dead at 2:03 p.m., according to Putnam County Coroner Hollis Harrison.