By By Adam Prestridge
An Atmore man was transported to Atmore Community Hospital for treatment of injuries he sustained when the truck he was driving collided with an 18-wheeler on Hwy. 21 Halloween day.
According to a spokesperson with the Evergreen post of the Alabama State Troopers Office, Michael Blackburn, 55, of Atmore was injured when his Ford F-150 was struck in the driver's side by an 18-wheeler traveling south on Hwy. 21 just after noon, Oct. 31. The impact of the crash spun Blackburn's truck around, while the driver of the 18-wheeler, Molino, Fla. resident Randy Robinson could not prevent his truck from crashing into the median following the impact.
Upon arrival, paramedics immediately began treating Blackburn for his injuries and rushed him to the hospital. At the accident scene, it appeared that Robinson's Peterbilt truck drove through a portion of the median and made it back onto the highway before fishtailing hood first into the median overturning its trailer full of pea gravel and scattering it across the northbound lanes of Hwy. 21.
Officers with the Atmore Police Department and the Poarch Police Department and deputies with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office responded to the accident, along with volunteers with the Poarch Volunteer Fire Department. Workers with the Alabama Department of Transportation also responded to assist workers in cleaning up the gravel along the roadway.
An Atmore teenager was injured the next day, Nov. 1, when she was tossed out of the 2001 Kia Sephia she was driving when it rolled over on Smith Dairy Road in Atmore around 4:15 p.m.
Atmore Ambulance transported Shameka Arnold, 18, of Atmore to Atmore Community Hospital for treatment following the single-vehicle accident.
According to officers at the scene, it appeared Arnold's car veered off the side of the road and she overcorrected causing the vehicle to overturn.
Conditions on Blackburn and Arnold were not available.