RUSSELLVILLE, AL : Colbert man dies following accident on Saturday, 24th September 2016

A Colbert County man died Monday in a Birmingham hospital from injuries sustained in a Saturday morning motorcycle crash in Franklin County.

Senior Trooper Johnathan Appling, a public information officer with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, said Tommy Elton McDonald, 62, of Leighton, died at UAB Hospital.

This is the third traffic fatality in the Shoals area in the last five days.

Appling said McDonald was injured in a Saturday morning crash that occurred in Franklin County, east of Russellville.

Reports indicate the accident occurred at 10:55 a.m. on Franklin 48.

Appling said McDonald was riding a 1979 Yamaha motorcycle that ran off the road and struck a ditch.

Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said the accident was between Quinn’s Store and Bethsadia Church, about three miles from the Colbert County line.

Emergency personnel at the scene said according to witnesses McDonald had been at Quinn’s Store and left going east towards Colbert County.

Witnesses told authorities that when McDonald left the store, he forgot to raise the kickstand on the motorcycle. When he came out of a left-hand turn, the kickstand caught the asphalt, causing McDonald to lose control of the motorcycle.

Officials said McDonald was transported to Russellville Hospital, then on to Huntsville Hospital and later to UAB.

Appling said the accident remains under investigation by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Quad-Cities State Troopers Post.

Source :
Colbert man dies following accident