accident

A 23-year-old Nassau County woman died Tuesday after the car she was driving struck a tree on U.S.1 south of Cross Creek Boulevard, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Heather Diane Bradberry, of Callahan overcorrected twice after her southbound car veered onto the road shoulder just before 7 p.m. The car ran began to rotate until the driver’s side struck the tree. Bradberry was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Highway Patrol.

Bradberry, who was alone in the car, was wearing a seat belt.

Dana Treen, The Times-Union

A Fernandina Beach resident died Monday in a single-car accident on Florida A1A at Racquet Park Drive.

Eumar J. Montalvo, 29, died at the scene of the 2:15 a.m. crash, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The cause of the accident is not yet known.

Montalvo, who was wearing a seat belt, was going south in a 2002 BMW when the car went off the road and struck a tree. The impact of the crash caused the car to overturn and hit a second tree, according to the FHP report. — Times-Union staff

A Callahan man was in critical condition yesterday after he was hit riding his bicycle on Florida A1A in Callahan, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

John C. Williams, 49, was riding east near Stratton Road shortly after 11 a.m. when he was hit by a westbound car driven by Courtney Whitaker, 20, of Callahan. Whitaker told investigators a car in front of her braked suddenly causing her to change lanes to avoid a collision.

Williams was taken to Shands Jacksonville.

by KEVIN TURNER

kevin.turner@mynassausun.com

County Commissioner Tom Branan was released from Shands Jacksonville over the weekend following a one-car accident Thursday.

Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Bill Leeper said Branan, 63, was northbound on Blackrock Road at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday and veered right while turning through a curve near Green Pine Road.

The car went off the road into a drainage ditch, came out near a concrete culvert and became airborne, coming to rest against a chain-link fence on the other side of the culvert, he said.

Nassau County Commissioner Tom Branan has been flown to Shands Jacksonville following a single-car accident this afternoon.

Branan was northbound on Blackrock Road shortly about 5:30 p.m. when his vehicle went off the road and hit a concrete culvert, said Nassau County Sheriff Tommy Seagraves. Seagraves said Branan was not responsive and that a medical condition may have caused the crash. Branan lives in the area where the accident occurred.

Nassau County Fire Rescue Chief Chuck Cooper said Branan was in critical condition when he was flown to the hospital.

His condition was later updated to fair.

By Kevin Turner

kevin.turner@mynassausun.com

Two Callahan residents were killed and one critically injured in two separate highway accidents during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

John Douglas Kilgore Jr., 21, was killed in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer early Monday.

Nina D. Thomas, 56, was killed after Nathan L. Thomas, 60, lost control of the car in which she was riding and veered into the path of another car Friday night. Nathan Thomas was critically injured.

Kilgore was driving east on a two-lane segment Florida A1A four miles east of Callahan when he moved into the westbound lane to pass another car. His 1995 Chevrolet pickup truck slammed into a 2003 Freighliner semi driven by Joseph W. Allbritton, 32, of Nahunta, Ga.

Firefighters extinguish a truck that caught fire after an accident on Eighth Street Wednesday afternoon.

by KEVIN TURNER
kevin.turner@mynassausun.com

Two people were killed and four were rushed to Shands Jacksonville after a four-vehicle accident at 1:25 this afternoon on South Eighth Street.

Florida Highway Patrol Spokesman Lt. Bill Leeper said Donald Harrison, 65, drove a 2005 Chevrolet pickup truck the wrong way in southbound Eighth Street and killed Thomas Hooke, 68, of Yulee, when the truck hit his 1994 Mitsubishi pickup truck head-on.

The Chevrolet also hit a 2005 Ford Escape and a 1991 Dodge work truck before it overturned and burst into flames, Leeper said. It took firefighters about five minutes to extinguish the fire, Nassau County Fire Rescue Chief Chuck Cooper said.

James Cole, 48, and Paul George, 36, were in the Dodge and were injured. The names of two people in the Escape were not available at press time.