Local & State Headlines

Wreck leaves Worth teen dead

• Teen brothers in two vehicles are involved in a crash that leaves another teen dead in Worth County.

Susan McCord

SYLVESTER — A teenager was killed, several people were injured and an ambulance was heavily damaged in two unrelated Worth County wrecks Wednesday.

The Georgia State Patrol continues to investigate a 3:30 p.m. crash on Red Rock Road that left 18-year-old Steven Wayne Dietzel Jr. dead, Trooper Lisa Stocks said.

The teen, of 127 Pine Trail in Albany, was driving east on Red Rock to pick up siblings at school in Sylvester when his 2004 Ford Explorer was hit by a westbound Chevrolet Silverado driven by Jason Eugene Williams, 17, of Sylvester, Stocks said.

The westbound Silverado was in the eastbound lane, passing another vehicle in a no-passing zone, Stocks said.

Williams, who was taken to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany with serious injuries, was passing a Ford Ranger driven by Richard Patton, 17, of Sylvester, she said.

Patton’s passenger was the twin brother of Williams, Stocks said, and Williams’ passenger was 14-year-old Mathew Patton, Richard Patton’s younger brother.

Mathew Patton sustained minor injuries and was expected to be released from the hospital later Wednesday, Stocks said.

The occupants of the Ranger were not injured, she said.

The collision sent the Explorer and the Silverado over the south shoulder of Red Rock Road, she said.

The wreck took place on a hill crest about a quarter-mile from Red Rock’s intersection with Ga. 313, just west of Sylvester, Stocks said.

The two westbound vehicles had just left Worth County High School, she said.

The Patrol’s Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team will continue to investigate the crash, and charges are pending, Stocks said.

In Sylvester, a Colquitt County woman was injured around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday when she pulled from a shopping center parking lot into the path of an eastbound ambulance, Chief Tommy Bozeman said.

The woman, Mary Tate, was taken to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Bozeman said. Her condition is not known.

After colliding with Tate’s truck, the ambulance crashed into another vehicle that was paused in the highway’s turning lane, he said.

The ambulance sustained heavy front-end damage in the crash, Worth County Fire Chief Lynn Ford said.

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