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Truck driver dies after remaining in ICU for over a month
truck wreck 3 col color
Firefighters assess the damage and take pictures after a log truck crashed into one of the Georgia National Guard buildings on U.S. 301 last month. - photo by FILE
    A man critically injured in a four-vehicle crash on U.S. 301 North Jan. 10 died Friday, said Georgia State Patrol Sgt. First-Class Christopher Wright.
    Charges are pending in the accident, which is being investigated by the Georgia State Patrol Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team, he said.
    Johnny Edward McNeely, 70, Swainsboro, was driving a log truck on U.S. 301 North, heading west around noon Jan. 10, when Bulloch County Sheriff's Capt. Lee Harris, approaching from the opposite direction, struck a car driven by a Brooklet resident, Linda Kimble, 61.
    The impact sent Kimble's Toyota Camry into McNeely's path, and after his log truck struck her car, he crossed the oncoming lane of traffic, left the roadway and plowed through a block building, said Georgia State Patrol Sr. Trooper D. H. Averitt.
    After Harris struck Kimble's car, he struck a Coca Cola van driven by Michael Bird, 41, Statesboro.
    Harris, Kimble and Bird were injured, but Harris and Kimble were both treated and released from East Georgia Regional Medical center. Bird was treated at the scene.
    However, McNeely was taken by Life Star helicopter to Memorial  Health University  Medical Center in Savannah, where he was admitted to an intensive care unit, Averitt said.
    McNeely remained in critical condition until his death Friday.
    The Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team conducts a more comprehensive investigation into accidents involving serious injury and deaths, Wright said. "Their investigations are a lot more thorough than what we do in a regular crash."
    When the SCRT investigation is completed, the team's results will be made available to the local GSP post, and charges will be filed according to the findings, he said.
    Wright did not know how long the SCRT investigation will take, he said.
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