A North Georgia man has been charged with driving under the influence following an accident that injured more than a dozen members of a Rockdale County church on Thursday night.
Ryan Bellamy, 31, of Toccoa also was charged with driving on the wrong side of the roadway, according to the Georgia State Patrol. Authorities say the Lincoln Town Car he was driving southbound on Ga. 184 in Stephens County crossed into the northbound lane and collided head-on with a van from the Love & Hugs Christian Tabernacle in Conyers.
“That was a very frightening experience,” Minister Sharon Johnson told Channel 2 Action News by phone Friday. “I saw him when he began to weave. I saw when he held his head up and realized he was fixing to hit us head on,”
Eighteen people were on the van, which was bound for a women's retreat at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa. Fifteen people taken to local hospitals for treatment had been released, WYFF-TV in Greenville, S.C. reported Friday.
Bellamy was airlifted to Northeast Georgia Medical Center, which said Saturday he had been released.
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