At least 11 killed in weekend traffic accidents in Alabama

Sunday, July 14, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

At least 11 people were killed in accidents on Alabama roadways over the weekend, including a 17-year-old driver and his passenger in Dallas County.

State troopers said driver William Joshua Campbell, 17, of Plantersville, and passenger Michael Allison Blake, 20, of Selma, died in a two-vehicle collision on U.S. 80, about 9:40 p.m. Saturday, about a mile west of Selma. Blake was wearing a seat belt, but not Campbell, troopers said.

Crystal Landon, 44, was killed in the head-on collision on Interstate 10 about five miles west of Mobile at 12:45 a.m. Saturday. Troopers said the Las Vegas, Nev., woman was a passenger in a vehicle struck by a second vehicle driving the wrong direction on the interstate. The driver of the second vehicle, Rachel Indovina, 38, of Baton Rouge, La., also was killed.

Troopers said seat belts were not in use in that I-10 crash.

An accident on Interstate 65 in Autauga County killed a pedestrian about 4:49 a.m. Saturday, but troopers were unable to release the victim's name because relatives had not been notified by Sunday.

Matthew Travis King, 20, of Limestone County, was killed around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when his car ran off Pepper Road and struck a tree. Athens police said King was wearing a seat belt.

A Canadian motorcyclist died in a two-vehicle wreck six miles north of Gaylesville. Eric Jermy, 50, of Hagersville, Ontario, was killed on impact Saturday when a vehicle pulled out into the path of Jermy's 1981 motorcycle, according to troopers. That accident happened at 1:50 p.m.- on Alabama 35 in Cherokee County.

In Franklin County, Billy Wade Horton, 50, of Spruce Pine was killed Saturday about 8:15 p.m. when the vehicle he was driving ran off Old Nauvoo Road, about 12 miles west of Russellville, and overturned. A passenger, Gary Verdo Hallman, 39, of Russellville also was killed. Neither man had on a seat belt, troopers said.

In Colbert County, a 21-year-old woman, Devon Brook Gandy, of Russellville, died Sunday when the vehicle she was driving ran off county route 18 and struck a tree about 12:45 a.m., about a mile west of Littlefield. She was not wearing a seat belt, troopers said.

A fatal accident occurred about 12:01 a.m. Sunday in DeKalb County, about six miles south of Collinsville on Alabama 227, but the victim's name was not immediately released. Troopers said the vehicle struck a tree and a seat belt wasn't in use.

The Associated Press counts weekend traffic deaths from 6 p.m Friday until midnight Sunday.