Columbia,AL : Colbert man killed in Friday crash on January, Friday 5th 2018

A Colbert County man died at a Sheffield hospital Friday morning from injuries he sustained in a two-vehicle accident.

“It was a heck of a collision,” said Muscle Shoals Fire Chief Tim McMullins, who along with members of his department were dispatched to the scene to assist with the wreck.

McMullins said the victim was trapped inside his truck.

The chief said firefighters had to “pop” open the passenger’s side door to get the victim out and begin medical treatment.

Troopers said the man, James Matthew Wilcoxson, 32, of Muscle Shoals, was taken by ambulance to Helen Keller Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Cpl. Jeremy Baker, of the Quad-Cities State Troopers Post, said the accident occurred at 6:10 Friday morning at the intersection of Alabama 157 and Ricks Lane (Colbert 61).

Baker said Wilcoxson was driving a 2006 Ford F-350 truck that collided with an 18-wheeler in the intersection. Troopers said the victim was not wearing a seat belt.

Baker said the driver of the 18-wheeler, who was from Tennessee, received minor injuries.

Emergency personnel at the scene said Wilcoxson was traveling north on Ricks Lane, trying to cross Alabama 157. The tractor-trailer truck was traveling east on Alabama 157.

Emergency personnel said the impact was so severe debris from the two vehicles was scattered across all four lanes of traffic and the median.

According to Colbert 911, firefighters from Spring Valley, White Oak and Muscle Shoals, along with law enforcement from the Colbert County Sheriff's Department, troopers and Muscle Shoals police were called to the scene.

Authorities said the wreck caused traffic delays and detours.

Officials said there was so much debris to clean up it took more than two hours to get the roadway clear and reopened to traffic.

The crash is the first fatality in 2018 in the northwest Alabama region and the southern Tennessee counties of Wayne and Lawrence.

The accident remains under investigation by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Quad-Cities State Trooper Post.

Source :
Colbert man killed in Friday crash