[EDITOR's NOTE: Tyrone Police Chief Brandon Perkins checked incident reports and determined that the wreck mentioned below happened inside the city limits of Fairburn and that NO Tyrone police officers responded to the wreck. The Fairburn case number is 09P05712, according to Chief Perkins. The letter below is corrected in that regard as of Feb. 1.]

On Sept. 10, 2009, I was involved in a rear-end accident. I was traveling north on Ga. Highway 74, traveling in the right lane doing about 50 mph. I had begun to slow down because the traffic ahead of me was slowing down to enter Interstate 85.

All of a sudden I looked into my rearview mirror and noticed a car was right on my tail. In a matter of a microsecond, between my telling my wife that “that idiot is going to hit us,” the actual collision occurred.

The impact and momentum caused my car to cross lanes and I ended up on the median strip. When I got out of my car and approached the driver of the car who hit me, he apologized and said, “I was on my cellphone talking with my doctor and he asked me for some additional information which was in my wallet. I went to retrieve the information from my wallet and took my eyes off the road.”

Well, you know what happened after that. Luckily no one was seriously injured, although my wife did complain about a sore shoulder about a week later. The front of his car was completely bent in. The back of my car was completely bent in.

The [CORRECTED] Fairburn Police arrived and took separate statements. I repeated to the officer what this person had told me. The person who drove recklessly was not given a citation for reckless driving. The officer’s explanation was that “I don’t write citations on traffic accidents unless there is an injury.”

In my opinion the officer was incompetent. Both cars were towed away. My car was towed to Union City to a dealership to assess the damage. My car was determined “totaled” and could not be salvaged. I had to replace the car.

This is what could happen when you talk on your cellphone while driving.

Cecil A. Brown

Peachtree City Ga.