Published: February 07, 2007 11:58 pm      

Boy, 12, in coma after Grayson car crash

Driver of second vehicle charged with DUI, jailed

GRAYSON — A 12-year-old Grayson boy remains in a coma after Monday night’s collision on U.S. 60 that sent one motorist to jail, police said.

The juvenile, riding in a car driven by his cousin, Bobbi Maggard, 19, of Damron Branch, suffered multiple injuries, including severe head trauma, said Grayson Police Officer Tony Cantrell, who’s investigating.

The boy was still listed in critical condition at Cabell Huntington Hospital, he said Wednesday afternoon.

Christopher Dixon, 31, of Webbville, the driver of the pickup truck that collided with Maggard’s car, remains in jail on a $100,000 cash bond, Cantrell said. He is charged with driving under the influence, operating on a suspended license and a warrant for failure to pay fines.

What’s being called one of the city’s more serious accidents began about 6:30 p.m. Monday as Dixon’s 2001 Dodge Dakota rounded the curve near the old Grayson City Pool, heading west, Cantrell said.

Maggard was driving a 2000 Chevy Cavalier, heading east toward town.

“Witnesses following him said he was all over the road, and went into her lane,” Cantrell said.

She swerved to avoid the pickup, but both vehicles struck on their front passenger sides with Dixon’s continuing to “sideswipe” the car’s passenger side, he said.

Carter County EMS responded, treating the boy at the scene then transporting him to a landing zone where he was airlifted to Cabell, Cantrell said. Maggard refused treatment at the scene, but while visiting her cousin at the hospital later went to the emergency room where doctors found spleen damage, he said.

Dixon, uninjured in the crash, failed a field sobriety test and was taken to King’s Daughters Medical Center for a blood test, Cantrell said. He was then lodged in the Carter County Detention Center.

Other charges are pending, and the investigation is continuing, Cantrell said.

“Any kind of accident is a top priority, especially with a child involved,” he said. “If you’ve got someone intoxicated, and they’re driving and two people are injured ... it’s very serious.”

ALLEN BLAIR can be reached at ablair@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2657.