• Friday's collision on the Liberty Expressway was the third fatal traffic accident in metro Albany in a week.

MARK PASSWATERS
STAFF WRITER

ALBANY — A five-vehicle accident Friday evening on Liberty Expressway killed a 26-year-old Albany man, seriously injured his two young children and left another man in critical condition.

Police said the accident, which happened near the Oglethorpe Boulevard exit about 5:45 p.m., occurred when a Georgia Power truck heading northbound blew a tire. After the blowout, the utility company's truck apparently clipped a tractor-trailer truck also traveling northbound.

The Georgia Power truck then crossed the median of the divided four-lane highway, striking a Ford F-150 truck and Ford Focus head-on.

The driver of the F-150, Ted Casey, was killed, according to police.

Casey's two sons, 3-year-old Jacob and 2-year-old Austin, were to be airlifted late Friday to an Atlanta medical center, Cpl. Andrew Hayslip said.

Although the driver of the Ford Focus, Wendy McDonald of Sylvester, was expected to be released from Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital late Friday or early today, Hayslip said, a passenger in her vehicle, 39-year-old Amos Sanders, remained in critical condition near midnight.

The driver of the Georgia Power truck, Vernon Justice Jr., also was being treated at Phoebe late Friday, although his condition was not immediately available.

A nursing supervisor at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital would confirm only that three people injured in the wreck were being treated at the hospital.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured in the mishap.

The wreck backed up traffic on the busy thoroughfare for several hours. It was the third fatal accident in the Albany area in the past week.