Friday crash leaves 1 dead, 4 with non-life-threatening injuries

A 2-car collision Friday evening at Hwy 106/Mize Road and the Hwy 17 Bypass left one dead, and sent four local residents to the hospital.

Just before 9 p.m.,Lacitrus Gholston, 33, of Toccoa, was driving northbound on GA106/Mize Road, near the intersection with the Highway 17 Bypass, at a high rate of speed when he failed to maintain his lane while navigating a curve. Gholston lost control of the vehicle and crossed into the southbound lane, striking a Ford F250 truck, according to law enforcement officials.

The truck, driven by Brian Caleb Phillips, 21, of Toccoa, flipped over, skidded, and flipped again, coming to rest in a ditch after striking a traffic sign.

Phillips, along with passengers Alyssa Phillips, 24, of Toccoa, and Breelin Reece, 18, of Toccoa, and an unnamed 15-year-old passenger, were transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.

According to family members of one of the passengers, all four occupants of the F250 were released from the hospital by approximately 4 a.m. Saturday morning, and suffered, between them, fractures, bruises, and lacerations.

Comments from the F250’s passengers indicated that they observed blue blue lights behind Gholston’s vehicle prior to the crash, and that he appeared to be fleeing from law enforcement.

Gholston, who was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, was pronounced dead at the scene.

WNEG News will continue to follow this story, and will provide updates once the full GSP report is available.