Church van and semi collide

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By Christy Hutchings - bio | email

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, GA (WTOC) - A frightening accident happened on Highway 80 at the intersection of Old River Road in Effingham County Monday night.

David Ehsanipoor with the Effingham County Sheriff's Office says a van carrying several young people from Westside Christian Church in Bloomingdale, was traveling down Highway 80 taking when it collided into a semi-truck.

We spoke to church officials Tuesday morning. They say all of the children were treated and released from the hospital. One girl suffered a knee injury and will be seeing a specialist Tuesday afternoon.

There's usually a stop sign at that intersection, but just before the van got there, Ehsanipoor say a pickup truck hit the sign and knocked it down.

The pickup ended up in a ditch and the driver took off on foot.

Moments later, the church van came up to the intersection. The driver did not stop and turned onto Old River Road right into the path of the semi.

The semi hit it so hard the van rolled into another ditch.

"We have multiple agencies, Georgia State Patrol, Effingham County sheriff's deputies, EMS, EMS out of Savannah, on the scene right now assessing the situation, triaging the patients, and getting them to the hospitals they need to be at," said Ehsanipoor at the time of the accident.

By Tuesday afternoon, Ehsanipoor told WTOC the second accident may have been prevented if the stop sign was still standing.

"The driver of the van didn't know to stop. There was no stop sign there, so we believe the first accident probably led to the second accident," he said.

All the children were taken to Memorial Hospital in Savannah, and released.

"It's very bizarre the events that took place in such a short amount of time," Ehsanipoor said. "It all happened within minutes, the first accident then the van crashing into tractor trailer. It could have been a lot worse. Everybody on that van was very forturnate to not be seriously injured or die."

Old River Road was closed several hours while Georgia State Patrol and the Effingham County Sheriff's Office investigated the crash.

Deputies say the driver of the pickup, 38-year-old Charles Vaughn, was taken into custody a short time later. They say Vaughn was caught trying to break in to a nearby home after leaving his pickup at the scene.

He is charged with DUI, fleeing the scene of an accident, hit and run and attempted burglary among other charges.