CLAYTON - The Georgia State Patrol has released the identities of those involved in a fatal wreck in Rabun County Saturday afternoon.
Trooper 1st Class Aaron Church said 64-year-old James Larry Stripling of Mt. Airy was killed and his passenger, Janice Stripling of Mt. Airy, was seriously injured when their motorcycle struck another vehicle.
The wreck happened on U.S. 441/Georgia 15 northbound just before Tiger Connector.
Church said a Mitsubishi Raider pickup truck was traveling in the right lane in front of the motorcycle and slowed to pull into the emergency lane for what the driver thought was a funeral procession.
As the southbound escorted motorcycle ride passed, Stripling's northbound motorcycle sideswiped the truck and both motorcyclists were thrown from the bike, Church said.
Janice Stripling suffered a serious leg injury as well as unspecified injuries, Church said. She was airlifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital.
The truck's occupants, 45-year-old Michael Queen and 40-year-old Shannon Queen of Clayton, were shaken but unhurt.
