A Clarkesville man was critically injured when his Jeep left the road and overturned just after noon Friday in rural Rabun County.
Wade Erastus Jones, 66, was flown to Northeast Georgia Medical Center after being found outside his vehicle down a steep embankment on a U.S. Forest Road near Lake Burton Friday afternoon.
The single-vehicle wreck involving Jones’ red 1991 Jeep Wrangler occurred about three miles in on West Wildcat Road, according to Trooper Brady Galloway of Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa.
“We were initially called for a rollover wreck down an embankment with entrapment,” said Rabun County Fire Services Assistant Chief Justin Upchurch. “Upon the arrival of our first units, the driver was found lying face down a short distance from the Jeep. The driver appeared to be ejected and had serious injuries.”
According to Galloway, Jones’ Jeep was traveling west on West Wildcat Road when the right front tire went off the edge of the road in a small washout, then slid down the bank and overturned a couple of times, ejecting the driver.
That vehicle was some 70 to 80 feet down an embankment, so RCFS, Rabun County Emergency Medical Service and law enforcement personnel had to carry Jones in a basket, then haul him up the embankment using a winch, Upchurch said.
That rescue effort lasted until nearly 2 p.m., when Jones was loaded into the waiting Blairsville-based AirLife Georgia 14 helicopter that had landed at Rabun County Fire Services Station 11 on Ga. 197.
Roughly 10 emergency personnel were involved in the rescue.
