The Independence Day holiday weekend got off to a deadly start in McDuffie County.
Traffic accidents claimed the lives of two local residents, including a recent graduate of Thomson High School.
Ciera Burnett, 18, of Carver Street in Thomson, was fatally injured in a Friday afternoon accident on Moose Club Road.
Details of the wreck still were sketchy on Monday, as the investigation continued by troopers, according to a dispatcher. The names of the other victims from that collision were not available. The mishap involved a car and a pickup truck, authorities said.
Miss Burnett was flown by medical helicopter to the Medical College of Georgia Hospital in Augusta on Friday. McDuffie County Coroner Rhusha Mack said she was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:20 p.m. Sunday.
Coroner Mack said an autopsy was ordered for Tuesday at the Georgia State Crime Lab in Augusta. Miss Burnett was a 2007 graduate of Thomson High.
On Saturday, 51-year-old Dionicio Garza, of Shank Street in Thomson, was killed in an accident on Cobbham Road, according to a report filed by Georgia State Patrol Trooper First Class Robbie Roberson. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, shortly after 4 p.m. by Warren County Deputy Coroner Sandy Yelton, who was assisting the McDuffie County coroner's office.
The wreck occurred when Mr. Garza apparently "over corrected" and lost control of the car, which slammed against a cedar tree, according to the accident report. An autopsy was expected to have been performed on Sunday at the Georgia State Crime Lab in Augusta, Mrs. Yelton said.
A passenger in the rear seat of the car was treated at the scene by medical personnel from the McDuffie Emergency Medical Services and first responders with the McDuffie County Fire/Rescue Services before being flown by helicopter to the Medical College of Georgia Hospital in Augusta. He was identified as 22-year-old Antonio Mendez of Lincolnton, whose injuries were described as critical.
Trooper Roberson said a front-seat passeneger, Manuel Basquez-Pacheco, was also taken to the MCG hospital.
