Texting distraction lands driver upside down in creek

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February 2, 2010

By Jean Cole The News Courier Tue Feb 02, 2010, 07:58 PM CST

Without a scratch on him, 17-year-old Logan “Forrest” Williamson emerged from his upside-down, partially submerged Toyota Echo with the following message for drivers with cellular telephones.

“Pay more attention,” the Athens High student said Tuesday after he flipped his car into a shallow creek off Elkton Road in Athens about 11 a.m.

It was the second time in a week that a driver wrecked in Limestone County after being distracted by a cell phone text message. The first wreck killed a Decatur woman.

Williamson was heading north on Elkton toward Elm Street when he heard a beep from his cell phone, which was resting on the seat beside him.

“I was just going to look and see who was texting me,” he said.

In an instant, he felt his car leaving the road.

“I swerved over but I swerved over too far so I swerved back and went off the road, “he said.

Seconds later, he was upside down in the creek with water coming in the windows.

“It was astonishing — it was a real bummer,” said Williamson, whose black Led Zeppelin T-shirt, khaki pants and tennis shoes seemed intact and clean despite his ordeal. “I tried using my skateboard to smash the window but it didn’t work.”

When Athens firefighters from Station 2 arrived, the teenager was already out of the car. A city worker, Shawn Cosby, had stopped and helped Williamson out, said Athens Police Officer Jim Flint.

“I feel lucky to be alive,” the teenager said.

When told by bystanders he was not only lucky to be alive but lucky not to have injured or killed anyone else and lucky he walked away with only a wrecked car, Williamson agreed but couldn’t help thinking about his loss.

“That ’04 Echo is an awesome car — it’s got a lot a git to it,” he said. “And my cell phone is still in the car and it has all my numbers in it.”

Like many drivers, he cannot grasp what might have been.

A week ago, on Jan. 28, the unthinkable happened to a 23-year-old Georgia man who was not paying attention while driving.

Feliciano Diaz-Perez ran a stoplight on U.S. 72 and struck a car, killing the driver, Edna Harris of Decatur. She had earned her master’s degree from Alabama A&M; University, was a classification supervisor at Limestone Correctional Facility and was a mother and grandmother.

State troopers believe Diaz-Perez may have been distracted by telephone text messaging when he ran the light. He is charged with vehicular homicide.