By Joe Johnson
An elderly Jackson County woman was killed Saturday in a three-vehicle crash at a North Valley intersection, Athens-Clarke County police said.
Officers responded at about 5 p.m. to investigate a report of a collision at the intersection of Jefferson River Road and South Ridge Drive, according to police.
An investigation determined that a Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by a 51-year-old Athens man was traveling north on Jefferson River Road when a Chevrolet Caprice driven by a 59-year-old Athens man pulled out of South Ridge Drive and into the path of the pickup, police said.
After the collision, the pickup's driver lost control of his sliding vehicle, which was struck in the passenger side by a southbound Toyota RAV4 driven by a 53-year-old woman from Nicholson. Her 79-year-old passenger, Violet Sprinkles, also from Nicholson, sustained serious visible injuries and she later died at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center, police said.
The Caprice suffered only minor damage and the driver was uninjured, police said.
The driver of the pickup truck, Kevin Cruell, had visible injuries, police said, and his passenger, 29-year-old Samantha Jordan of Hull, was seriously injured.
Both were transported to the hospital.
Police did not say if anyone was cited for the accident.
They noted that the incident was the sixth fatal collision in Athens in 2020.