By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

Two separate Fayette County traffic accidents last weekend resulted in injuries serious enough to require helicopter transport to Atlanta.

According to authorities, a dump truck ran a red light in Tyrone shortly before rush hour Friday afternoon and hit a sport utility vehicle, causing injuries to all three persons in the SUV.

A Peach State Paving dump truck, driven by Gerald Morgan of Austell, was traveling southbound on Ga. Highway 74 when the collision occurred.

Three persons were going east on Tyrone Road in a 1998 Toyota Forerunner when struck by the larger truck, causing it to roll over into the northbound lanes of Hwy. 74.

Morgan was cited by Tyrone police for running a red light and defective equipment. In addition, he received citations from the Public Service Commission for a log book violation and being overloaded.

Of the three people in the Toyota, the driver and front passenger were slightly injured, while the passenger in the back seat, Jesse Watson, was transported by Phoenix Aircare of Griffin to Atlanta Medical Center.

The other two refused treatment at the scene, according to a spokesman for the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services, but Tyrone police said they later went to Fayette Community Hospital on their own.

The accident came at the worst possible time for afternoon rush-hour commuters, but police kept one northbound lane open the entire time and southbound lanes were not affected, except when the helicopter landed and took off again.

Elsewhere in the county, a one-car accident early Saturday morning took place on the east side of Fayetteville, near the Clayton County line.

According to authorities, the vehicle left the roadway at Ga. Highway 54 and Corinth Road shortly after 4:30 a.m.

Phoenix Aircare transported the driver, who was the only person in the vehicle, to Atlanta Medical Center. Fayetteville Fire Department officials assisted in securing the helicopter landing zone, according to fire department officials.

The crash left a 12-inch vehicle intrusion on the passenger's side.