By Jared Putnam
Staff Writer
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Towns County Coroner Tamela Cooper said the location of the Sand Bar and Grill has always concerned her.
A 22-year-old Hayesville woman was struck and killed in an auto-pedestrian accident Saturday night in Towns County, Ga.
Alexandria Leigh Richbourg was attempting to cross five lanes of traffic on U.S. Hwy 76 around 11:30 p.m. after visiting the Sand Bar & Grille. She was hit by a vehicle traveling west-bound toward Blairsville and died upon impact.
The driver of the car was not physically injured and is not facing charges. A friend who was with Richbourg at the bar told authorities that she was attempting to walk back to her car, which was parked across the highway at The Ridges Marina.
Although Richbourg’s obituary lists Hayesville as her home, she was not residing in the area at the time.
“From what we understand, she was up here visiting due to a birthday and had been out with some friends that evening,” Towns County Coroner Tamela Cooper said.
Cooper noted lack of visibility as a key factor in the accident.
“She was dressed in black clothing and it was very, very dark that night,” she said. “We barely had any light from the moon and there’s no lighting from that area.”
Cooper added in an emailed statement that she is a mother of young adults who are near the age of the victim. This accident reinforced ongoing fears she’s had about pedestrians attempting to cross the highway.
“This highway is not intended for pedestrians to walk across and has been a concern from day one; in the best of circumstances crossing the 5-lane highway in front of the bar is dangerous. In the summer months we see people regularly crossing that area day and night,” Cooper said.
“It has always been in the back of my head that one day there would be lives claimed due to the poor location of the bar and the lack of discouragement for pedestrians to cross that highway. Towns County Coroner’s Office takes the safety of our citizens very seriously, myself and both deputy coroner’s responded to the highway 76 scene to ensure we could gather every detail pertaining to the incident.”
Cooper thanked the Towns County Fire Department and volunteers, EMS, sheriff’s deputies and a Georgia State Patrol trooper for using their vehicles and hand-held barriers to maintain the decedent’s dignity and allowing authorities to do their work in a safe environment. She said her office has since received a number of calls and inquiries regarding people continuing to cross the highway in the area of the accident.
“Deputy Coroner Sarah McClure has witnessed the continued issue as well on her way home or when out in the evenings,” Cooper said. “It has a constant knot in the Coroner’s Office stomach because we know how fragile life is.”
Richbourg’s obituary described her as an animal lover, and the family asked that instead of flowers, donations should be made to a local animal shelter in her name.