Four killed in fiery crash
By
TIM EBERLY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/29/07
Four people including two young children were killed and two others were injured in a fiery crash in rural Butts County late Friday after the group had been "mud-bogging," authorities said.
None of the victims was wearing a seat belt, their Ford Bronco was going an estimated 70 m.p.h. when it ran off the road and into some trees, and most of the adults connected with the incident were intoxicated, police said.
Three adults and three youngsters in the Bronco had just freed themselves from having gotten stuck in mud while playfully driving around, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
It is believed that most or all of the victims live in Butts County and live on the same road -- Lucy Lane -- about a mile from where the accident occurred, State Patrol Trooper J.T. McMillan said.
Authorities identified the deceased as:
--Susanna Guffey, 24.
--Lucas Ross, 2.
--Christina Levan, 36.
--Zoe Flick, 5.
Guffey was driving the Bronco, and Lucas was her son, police said.
Zoe's mother, Tammy Flick, 36, and Guffey's son, Brody Guffey, 4, survived the accident by crawling through a back window after the crash, McMillan said. Flick broke one of her legs, and Brody sustained only scratches.
The crash was reported around 11 p.m. on a curvy, narrow stretch of Lunsford Road that is lined with trees, McMillan said.
Two of the women's husbands had just helped get the Bronco out of the mud but, in the process, had gotten their dump truck stuck in a ditch, the trooper said. While the men tried to extricate themselves, Guffey and her passengers sped off in the Bronco.
A short distance away, Guffey lost control, and the Bronco went off the road and hit one tree and then another before bursting into flames, McMillan said. The husbands came upon the wreck on their way home and called 911.
Autopsies will determine whether the four died from the impact or from the fire that engulfed the Bronco.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...ge_tab_newstab