Two men and a woman, who suffered a reportedly serious head injury, were hurt early Tuesday when the pickup in which they were riding slammed into the rear of a dump truck.
The wreck occurred around 6:10 a.m. on Jack Springs Road, about three miles outside Atmore’s city limits.
According to Alabama State Trooper reports, a 2002 International dump truck, driven by Charles McDowell of Atmore, was in the process of making a left turn onto Freemanville Road when it was struck from behind by a 2001 GMC 1500 that was driven by Jonathan Wayne McGhee from Atmore.
Although no charges had been filed by early Tuesday afternoon, troopers reported that “alcohol is believed to be a contributing factor in the crash.”
Atmore Fire Chief Ron Peebles confirmed that both of the injured men were taken by ambulance to D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital in Brewton, while the woman with the head injury was flown by medical evacuation helicopter to University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile.
Peebles would neither confirm nor deny reports that two separate helicopters had been summoned, but one refused to fly because of thick fog around its base of operations.
Debris from the extensively damaged pickup was scattered along the heavily traveled traffic artery. One of the first-arriving emergency personnel reported that two of the occupants were still in the cab of the truck when he arrived, while the other was on the ground outside the truck.
The driver of the International was not hurt and, except for a few scratches and a small dent, the dump truck itself showed no signs that it was involved in the mishap.
City police officers halted the flow of vehicles while ambulance crews and city firefighters worked to administer preliminary treatment and to stabilize each patient for transport. Traffic backed up in both directions, and several motorists decided on alternate routes that took them around the crash site.
The ambulance carrying the injured woman rushed to Poarch Fire Department Station 1, where PFD firefighters set up electronic flares to mark a landing zone for the med-evac helicopter, which had not arrived by 7:05 a.m.
The investigation into the crash continued Tuesday afternoon, and no further information was available from troopers.