Three people lost their lives and a fourth was seriously injured in separate single-vehicle crashes that occurred less than 16 hours apart as the week began.
Clinton Cole Gregson, 20, of Uriah, was pronounced dead at the scene of a Monday, October 16, mishap that happened on Butler Street, about 14 miles north of Atmore, around 5:50 a.m.
According to reports filed by Alabama State Troopers, the 2012 GMC Sierra Gregson was driving left the roadway and struck a tree less than 100 yards past the rural thoroughfare’s junction with Ross Gate Road.
The GMC, which was southbound, left the two-lane blacktop about 40 yards past Pleasant Grove Baptist Church and traveled another 30 yards before running into a heavily wooded area where it hit a tree and was torn apart.
A passenger in the truck, 18-year-old Ashley Fountain, reportedly suffered serious leg and hip injuries and was taken by ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital. Troopers reported that neither Gregson nor Fountain was wearing a seatbelt when the wreck occurred.
According to postings on his and her Facebook pages, the couple announced in July that they had become engaged to wed.
Monday’s fatal crash came on the heels of another single-vehicle crash, this one on Sunday afternoon, in which Timmy Joe Sprinkle, 32, of Atmore and 63-year-old Susan M. Moore of Hollywood, Fla., were killed.
Trooper reports indicate that Sprinkle was driving a 2005 Ford Focus on Dailey Road, four miles north of Atmore, in the Freemanville community, when it left the roadway and struck a tree.
Sprinkle and Moore, neither of whom was using a seatbelt, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to troopers.
Investigations continued Tuesday into both fatalities, and no further information was available.