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Man dies after tour bus collision on Ga. 400
Tour bus wreck pic2
The Forsyth County man who was driving this truck died after it collided Wednesday with a tour bus carrying a local gospel group. - photo by By Michele Hester

DAWSONVILLE -- The elderly Forsyth County man involved in a collision with a tour bus carrying a local gospel group has died.

Meabon L. Sanner, 75, did not regain consciousness after the pickup truck he was driving collided with the bus Wednesday morning on Ga. 400 in Dawson County, authorities said

Dawson County Coroner Ted Bearden said Sanner was pronounced dead about 4 p.m. Wednesday at North Fulton Hospital.

Authorities said was traveling south about 10:30 a.m. when he attempted to turn left across the northbound lanes of Ga. 400 at Chick-fil-A. The tour bus struck Sanner's Toyota Tacoma on its passenger side.

Sanner, who suffered head injuries, was in "very critical condition," said Billy Thurmond, director of Dawson County Emergency Services.

A medical helicopter carrying Sanner was en route to Atlanta Medical Center when his condition worsened and they had to make an emergency stop at North Fulton, Thurmond said.

Rickey Gooch, road manager and sound technician for Dahlonega-based gospel trio Karen Peck and New River, was driving the bus, authorities said.

"Rickey tried to miss it but he couldn't," Karen Peck told a Georgia State Trooper at the scene.

A passenger on the bus, whose name has not been released, was also injured in the wreck.

"She was taken by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center with a dislocated hand," Thurmond said.

A note from Peck on the Grammy-nominated group's Web site listed Dawn Hughes as having a broken finger.

According to the Web site, the band had performed Sunday and Monday in Branson, Mo.

All lanes of the highway were closed for about an hour as crews cleared the wreckage.

As of Thursday, no charges had been filed. The state patrol is handling the investigation.

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