Fatal wrecks occur in Tift, Dougherty and Worth counties

ALBANY — Separate one-vehicle wrecks in Tift, Dougherty and Worth counties taking place from Saturday through Monday morning all resulted in fatalities, law enforcement officials say.

The most recent wreck was in Tift County around 5:45 a.m. Monday. Trooper Michael Spells, with the Georgia State Patrol post in Tifton, said that Abigail Anne Davis, 4, was riding in a vehicle with her mother, Matisha Exum Davis, 31, on Zion Hope Road when the mother was attempting to negotiate a turn. The vehicle ran off the road and overturned.

The mother was transported to a nearby hospital before being airlifted to Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and the daughter was pronounced dead at the scene. Neither occupant was wearing a seat belt, Spells said.

The accident is still under investigation, with charges possibly pending against the mother, the trooper said.

The accident in Dougherty County took place at around 11 a.m. Sunday on the 2600 block of Brittany Road. Phyllis Banks, spokeswoman for the Albany Police Department, said the agency’s traffic unit responded to the accident and that Elmer C. Wester III, 38, was driving a 2003 Ford F250 south on Brittany Road when he struck a brick mailbox at 2604 Brittany Road, continued south, went off the road again and struck a tree in the yard of 2605 Brittany Road.

The major impact was to the driver’s door. Wester, the only occupant in the truck, was transported to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. On Monday morning, the APD confirmed that Wester succumbed to the injuries he received as a result of the crash, Banks said.

The incident remains under investigation by the APD.

The crash in Worth County was reported to have taken place at around 9:30 p.m. Saturday. An operator at the GSP post in Albany, who would not give his full name, said the trooper’s report stated that Billy Ray Brown, 55, was negotiating a curve when he left the roadway and struck a tree on the passenger side of the vehicle near the intersection of Seabrook Drive and Georgia Highway 256.

Brown was reported to have been the only occupant of the vehicle. It is believed his vehicle may have hydroplaned before leaving the road. The report also indicated that drugs or alcohol is being considered as a possible factor in the crash, the operator said.