Nature & Environment

5 Killed in Head-On: Car Crash in LaGrange with Pontiac and Oldsmobile

Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Feb 09, 2013 10:58 AM EST

According to reports, five people were killed and two injured after a head-on crash between two cars in the west Georgia city of LaGrange.

The LaGrange Daily News reports witnesses saw a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass passing other cars at high speed and in a no-passing zone when it slammed into a 1995 Pontiac GrandAm moving the opposite direction.

John Hart witnessed the horrific crash, according to the Lagrange Daily News, and described the scene in a telephone interview.

"It was the awfulest thing I have ever seen and I've seen a few car crashes," Hart said.

Both 28-year-old Willie Hooks in an Oldsmobile and 23-year-old Melanie Kay Lemmon in a Pontiac were killed on impact. Three of the passengers in the Pontiac were also killed. However, there names have not yet been released.

The deaths have been confirmed by Troup County Coroner Jeff Cook, adding that two injured passengers were airlifted to hospitals in Atlanda and Columbus.

The Georgia State Patrol says it is having a blood-alcohol test conducted on Hooks.

The U.S. as well as many other countries are no stranger to motor vehicle accidents. According to a 2012 survey released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of emergency department visits for unintentional injuries: 29.5 million, with 33,687 deaths due to motor vehicle traffic per year and 10.9 per 100,000 population.

The likelihood of dying in a car or traffic accident is also ranked high on the charts when grouped with unintentional injury as one of the leading causes for death in the country.

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