Published Friday, August 03, 2012

Truck slams into patrol car, erupts in flames

By JOHN A. WINTERS

john@newnan.com

A Coweta County Sheriff's Office deputy removing debris from Interstate 85 south of the Collinsworth Road exit narrowly escaped injury late Thursday after a tractor-trailer truck slammed into the back of his unoccupied patrol car.

The collision caused the semi's trailer contents to catch fire. The truck and contents eventually burned to the ground, and the impact destroyed the deputy's patrol car. When firefighters arrived, the semi was "fully involved." Southbound lanes of Interstate 85 were closed for about five hours.

The deputy, Michael Wayne St. John, was uninjured. The truck driver was taken to Piedmont Newnan Hospital complaining of soreness, according to various authorities.

The driver, Jerry Lee Perry, 54, of North Carolina, was charged with failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, according to a Georgia State Patrol spokesman.

More details on this accident in Saturday's print and digital editions of The Newnan Times-Herald.