91-year-old driver survives after truck plunges into creek

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A 91-year-old driver is thankful to be alive after his truck plunged off a bridge in East Cobb County.

Channel 2's Ross Cavitt and photographer Casey Nichols shot pictures of a white pickup truck overturned in a creek at Oak Lane and Casteel Road.

Authorities say the elderly man pulled out in front of another car and collided. The impact sent his pickup over a guardrail, down 20 feet into a creek.

Firefighters feared the worst, but they found the 91-year-old alive, conscious and actually asking them to grab his keys before rushing him off to a hospital in stable condition.

Jaiame Sotillo rushed to the wreck scene when he learned his niece was driving the car that was struck by the elderly driver. She told Sotillo the driver came through a stop sign and hit her car.

"She's very devastated; Not for herself because she really didn't suffer anything, but for the gentleman who was quite elderly," Sotillo said.

Crews were left with a delicate task of lifting the pickup out of the creek, and containing the gas and oil running down the residential creek.

Neighbors were not surprised to see the wreck. They told Cavitt crashes are common near the 3-way intersection off Casteel, where cars ignored the winding 25 mph speed limit. They said they've talked with county leaders for years about improvements.

Sotillo worries it may take a tragedy involving kids from a nearby high school before changes are made.

"I'm afraid it might take something really bad -- worst than this -- for something like that to happen," he said.

WSBTV