Thursday February 20th, 2025 5:33PM

State patrol releases driver names in fatal Gilmer County bus crash

A 66-year-old Marietta man has been identified as the bus driver who lost his life in a traffic accident in Gilmer County Thursday.
 
Richard Rees was killed and as many as 43 of the passengers were hurt in a crash with a tractor trailer on Georgia 515 at Whitestone Road.

"Our emergency responders immediately went to work and got on that bus to start assessing patients to determine what their need was,"  Gilmer County EMS director Tony Pritchett said.
 
He said authorities know the intersection well.
 
"The curve that comes up to that intersection has a limited sight distance, and it's somewhere where we do see accidents that can be pretty challenging," Pritchett said.
 
The state patrol identified the tractor trailer driver as Charles Howard, 56, of Concord, North Carolina.
 
Charges are pending as the GSP Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team is investigates the crash.  
 
The tour bus was transporting people on a casino trip. Some of those on board had been picked up at the Senior Center at Charles Place in Forsyth County, according to county spokeswoman Jodi Gardner. She said the trip was not coordinated by the county and there was no county staff on board the bus. The Senior Center was simply a pick-up point for some of the passengers taking part in the trip to North Carolina. 
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