Two killed in wreck in Lee County

Ledgerenquirer.com

October 22, 2007

BY HARRY FRANKLIN

hfranklin@ledger-enquirer.com

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Joshua Gilbert is fighting for his life at The Medical Center after an automobile crash Sunday in which his brother and a young woman, both passengers in the car he was driving, were killed. The crash occurred on U.S. Highway 29 in Lee County, near the Gilberts' home.

Gilbert, 20, of 6850 U.S. Highway 29, was headed north in a 2003 Toyota Camry about 6:20 p.m., when the car ran off the right side of the road, said a spokesman for the Opelika Post, Alabama State Troopers. When he tried to overcorrect, the car went into the southbound lane.

That's when a 2002 Ford Exhibition driven by Ricky Thomaston of Cusseta, Ala., struck the Camry in the passenger side, ejecting the two passengers who apparently died instantly, according to a trooper's report.

Dead are Jeremy Gilbert, 27, and friend Stephanie Albright, 21, 2014 22nd Ave., Valley, Ala. A post spokesman said Albright was wearing her seat belt but Jeremy Gilbert was not.

Jeremy Gilbert was listed in unsatisfactory condition in The Medical Center's Critical Trauma Unit Monday, after being air-lifted by Aircom of Auburn to the Columbus hospital.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris was driving an ambulance that responded to the wreck. At 6:42 p.m. he pronounced the two passengers dead at the scene.

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