By Art Lawler Staff Writer
The Athens Review
Athens — GUN BARREL CITY — A motorist from Edgewood either didn’t see, or ignored, a stop sign at the intersecton of State Highway 334 and U.S. Highway 175 Wednesday afternoon, resulting in her death, along with the passenger in her vehicle.
According to Investigating GBC officer Sgt. Dennis Wehland’s report, 51-year-old Karen Hall of Edgewood was killed instantly, and her passenger, 29-year-old passenger Toni Lynn Drinning of Dallas, died while being transported to East Texas Medical Center, Athens.
Reports show GBC police were informed of the collision at 5:49 p.m.
Wehland’s report indicates that Hall, driving east in a Mitsubishi Mirage from GBC, apparently saw a Pontiac sitting at the stop sign in front of her (next to C.J’s liquor store) and pulled around it.
This put the two women in the Mirage in the middle of south-bound U.S. Highway 175, and directly into the path of a silver 2004 Toyota driven by Craig Treadwell, 39, of Wylie, who was headed toward Eustace at the time of the impact.
With the pickup truck and the Pontiac at a standstill at stop signs, Hall’s vehicle moved into the intersection at between 10 to 15 miles per hour, only to be hit by the Mirage which was moving at 65 miles per hour, according to estimates by Wehland, who said he did not believe Treadwell was traveling in excess of the speed limit, which is 65-miles-per-hour at night in that area.
The blow sent the Mitsubishi into the front passenger-side of a 2006 Nissan pickup truck driven by David Taylor of Gun Barrel City.
Taylor’s truck was stopped in the turning lane on U.S. 175, preparing to get on State Highway 334, going west at the time of the 2-vehicle collision.
Treadwell was treated for minor injuries at the site and released, the report said.
The victims of the collisions had to be removed with extraction equipment, according to the report.
All motorists involved were wearing seat belts, Wehland said.
GBC patrol officer Jason Ramsey assisted at the site, as did Eustace police officers, who directed traffic, Wehland said.
Charles Stiff contributed to this story.
