ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996 TAG: 9608190112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke man was killed Sunday afternoon in a three-car crash that sent three other people to the hospital and left Brandon Avenue closed to traffic for more than three hours.
George Bogle Hall, 84, was driving west about 2:41 p.m., near the Salem city limits, when he attempted to pass another car while rounding a curve in a no-passing zone. As Hall attempted to re-enter the lane, he sideswiped the car he was trying to pass, which was driven by Shawn Natasha Muse, 24, of Salem.
Hall's car then collided head-on with a car driven by Hazel Evelyn Gearheart, 79, of Roanoke, Roanoke police Officer J.W. Hardy said.
Gearheart, Muse and her passenger, a 7-year-old girl whom police did not identify, were taken to Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital with minor injuries, treated, and released, Hardy said.
Rescue crews used the Jaws of Life to pry the roof off Hall's car. However, he died at the scene.
"He's lucky he didn't make it," said Ernest Proffit of Roanoke, who was driving on Brandon and saw the accident. "He's lucky. If he'd lived, he'd have suffered the rest of his life."
"He was coming fast," Proffit said. "He was moving on. We said it was going to hit. If we'd been going any speed, we'd have been hit, too."
Proffit said Gearheart's air bag and seat belt probably saved her. "If you saw the wreck, you'd always wear your seat belt," he said.
Staff writer Jon Cawley contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB