The Labor Day holiday weekend was marred by tragedy Friday night when an Eatonton man lost his life in a vehicle crash.
Residents along Scott Road reported hearing a loud boom and then losing their electrical power around 10:30 p.m. A 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe had crashed into a utility pole, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
Keandre Briscoe, 24, of Union Chapel Road, was a passenger in the SUV and was killed in the crash. The driver, Sean Barrett, 22, of Lena Lane, was walking around talking to emergency responders at the scene. Barrett had been wearing a seatbelt, but Briscoe was not, Sills said.
One of the men was in the process of moving from their residence and they were pulling a homemade trailer behind the Tahoe. As they rounded the curve at the shopping center where Bruzze Brewing is located, Barrett reportedly lost control of the vehicle. The Tahoe went off the road and clipped a utility pole, breaking it in half and causing the broken power lines to hang suspended over the road. Residents and businesses in the area were without electricity for approximately four hours until Tri-County EMC linemen managed to restore it.
The trailer was dislodged from the Tahoe during the crash, and the SUV flipped, went down an embankment and into the shopping center's paved parking lot. After it flipped, It landed upright a few feet away from one of the buildings.
Putnam County Sheriff's Deputy Nicholas Fazio had just responded to a burglar alarm on Scott Road, and was first on the fatal crash scene, according to Sills. Sgt. Tyler Woodard also responded, as did Putnam County Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, and Deputy Coroner Pat Welch.
The accident remains under investigation, Sills said, and no charges have been filed.