By Steve Steiner
Managing editor
editor@elkintribune.com

JONESVILLE -- A matter of inches, literally, may have spelled the difference between life and death or, at the very least, far more serious injury when a car collided into the side of a tractor-trailer truck shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday.

According to an eyewitness, Mike Chen, of Florida, the accident occurred when a burgundy Ford Taurus came down the southbound ramp of Interstate 77 at exit 82 and onto N.C. 67.

"It looked like the car was running the red light," Chen said. "The car was then clipped by a truck."

The Taurus struck the rear passenger tires of the cab, narrowly missing the gasoline tank. The truck, driven by Harry Knox for Daily Express Inc. of Carlisle, Pa., was towing a locomotive engine on a flatbed. He had picked up the engine in Waycross, Ga. and was transporting it to Huntington, W.V., where it would be overhauled.

Knox, a long-distance hauler, was driving northbound on I-77 when he decided to pull off the highway and stop at the Bojangles restaurant. Knox said he often frequents this Bojangles on his runs.

"I had just gone under I-77 and saw the burgundy car moving," Knox said. "I saw them, I slowed down, and then 'Thump.'"

When the Jonesville No. 17 Fire Department, Yadkin County EMS and Jonesville Police Department arrived, they found the passenger of the Taurus, Tommy Brooks Jr., 36, of Elkin, and the driver, Candy Brooks, 36, of Sparta (and formerly of Jonesville according to police officer B.L. Shepherd, the investigating officer) conscious. Neither appeared to have serious or life-threatening injuries, and both of them, assisted by rescue workers, were able to walk and then climb into to the Yadkin County EMS ambulance, where they were transported to Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin.

Following a request by Jonesville Police Chief R.L. Reece, Knox moved his truck off N.C. 67 and into the truck parking area of the McDonalds restaurant. The two of them inspected where the car had struck the truck. Reece found burgundy paint from the Taurus on the middle tire of the double-axle cab on the passenger side while Knox pointed to a rip in the sidewall of the rear tire. Knox said he would have to buy a new tire because the rip was too deep. Both men commented over how close the Taurus had come to possibly striking the gas tank.