By Linda Erbele
A Cornelia man was charged with DUI after he ran his vehicle over a guard rail at the Chattahoochee River north of Helen on Tuesday evening.
Kerry Tracy Wheeler, 58, was so intoxicated that the White County Detention Center could not take him, Helen Police Chief Aletha Barrett said. Instead, Helen police transported him to the hospital, where staff could evaluate his condition.
“Luckily, there were no other vehicles on the road at the time (of the wreck),” she said. It occurred north of the city on the curved portion of Georgia Highway 75 that runs alongside the Chattahoochee.
Chief Barrett said that around 8:45 p.m., Wheeler was driving north on the Helen Highway, north of the city, having just left a restaurant. A south-bound Helen police vehicle flashed headlights at him, as a courtesy to tell him that his headlights were not on. At that point, Wheeler crossed the road and went over the guard rail, resulting in the front of his vehicle teetering above the the Chattahoochee.
Emergency responders stabilized the vehicle, but were concerned about his passenger who appeared to be injured. Barrett said the female passenger was transported by ambulance to the hospital.
“It is under investigation,” she said.