Single-vehicle crash claims driver’s life

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Police Department continues to investigate a single-vehicle crash that occurred Wednesday on Moultrie Road but had few details to release Thursday about the fatal accident.

“Unfortunately, we are not sure what happened yet,” DCP Capt. Jason Hager said Thursday morning. “Somehow, the driver lost control of the vehicle — a white Chevy pickup truck — ran off the road, struck a culvert, went through a yard and ultimately struck a tree. We got the call at 7:43 a.m. and arrived on scene at 7:50 a.m.”

The accident occurred at 3806 Moultrie Road, and Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler confirmed Thursday that James Richard Chad Hett, 39, was pronounced deceased on the scene at the early morning single-vehicle crash in the rural outskirts of Dougherty County.

“We are not sure yet what happened,” Fowler said. “It appears that Mr. Hett somehow lost control of the vehicle, ran off the road about 100 yards and struck a pine tree. He suffered severe head trauma. Mr. Hett works in Lee County, and his mother confirmed that he left for work a little while before the accident, but he must have forgotten something because he was actually headed back in the direction of his home when the crash occurred.”

According to Fowler, Hett was found in the driver’s seat of his truck. No other passengers were in the vehicle, and no other vehicles were involved.

Hager echoed the coroner’s statement.

“Everything in the truck looked like Mr. Hett was going to work,” Hager said. “He works in Lee County and lives on James (Drive) near County Line Road. His lunch was in the truck with him, and it was still cold. The investigation is ongoing, but at this point it looks like Hett was heading to work in Lee County traveling north on Moultrie Road and then turned around, for some reason, and was heading south on Moultrie Road when the crash occurred.”

Fowler said neighbors saw the wreck and called authorities.

The Albany Fire Department arrived and had to extricate Hett from his vehicle along the stretch of road where another driver died recently.

On Aug. 4, Alexis Charmane Whitted, 22, ran off the road and was killed on the 3100 block of Moultrie Road, a little more than a mile from where Hett crashed.

According to Fowler, no autopsy will be performed, but Hett’s medical records will be checked to see if there was a possible health-related issue that may have been a “contributing factor” to the wreck.

“No autopsy is planned,” Fowler said. “Ultimately, it was blunt force trauma that killed Mr. Hett when he struck the tree, but we will be looking through his medical records to determine if there was a health issue that may have been a contributing factor in the crash.”