By Staff
RESPONSE  Emergency personnel, including Meridian firefighters and police officers and sheriff's deputies, work at the scene of Tuesday's fatal traffic accident. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Marianne Todd/The Meridian Star
Oct. 24, 2001
Police said they are trying to determine what went wrong in a car accident that claimed the life of a Martin woman Tuesday afternoon.
Rose Townsend, 61, a passenger, was pronounced dead at the Interstate 20 scene, said Lt. Wade Johnson, police department spokesman. The accident occurred at 4:05 p.m. at the 156 mile marker, about a 11/2 miles east of the Highway 19 South exit near Wal-Mart.
Johnson said Townsend's husband, 63-year-old Jerry Townsend, was transported to Rush Foundation Hospital and was listed in stable condition.
The accident occurred while the Townsends were traveling east in their 1995 Chevy Blazer behind a Tyson Food Service tractor-trailer, Johnson said. Both vehicles were in a one-lane construction zone.
The Tyson truck was driven by Albert Peterson, 38, of Luverne, Ala.
Johnson said his department's Advanced Accident Investigation Team was called to the scene. Traffic was backed up several miles, at one point reaching the 22nd Avenue exit.
Emergency crews worked for more than an hour to clear the interstate.
Jerry Townsend, a founding member of the Martin Volunteer Fire Department, is a longtime State Farm Insurance agent in the Meridian area. Rose Townsend worked in his office as an assistant.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete for Rose Townsend at Stephens Funeral Home.
Marianne Todd is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. Call her at 693-1551, ext. 3236, or e-mail her at mtodd@themeridianstar.com.