Police Identify Both Drivers Killed In Head-On Collision
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
rmoore@harrodsburgherald.com
Officials have released the identities of the two drivers who died in a fiery head on collision on the Bluegrass Parkway in Mercer County.
Donald Jackson, 82, of Cynthiana, and Joshua Eversole, 33, of Nelson County, perished in the crash, which happened approximately 5:30 a.m. on Monday, July 4, around mile marker 53.
According to Eversole’s obituary in the Kentucky Standard, he was originally from Spartansburg, South Carolina. He had a wife and three children.
Mercer Sheriff Ernie Kelty, who happened to be traveling the parkway on personal business that morning, was one of the first to arrive.
“Both vehicles were fully engulfed,” Kelty said. “There was nothing anyone there could do.”
Jackson was driving west on the eastbound lane of the Bluegrass Parkway when he smashed into Eversole’s vehicle said Chief Deputy Wes Gaddis of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office. Gaddis is the lead investigator on the case. He said law enforcement in Anderson County had already received complaints that morning about a wrong-way driver, but by the time they reached the scene it was too late. Gaddis said there was no way the drivers survived the initial impact of the collision.
The bodies and the vehicles were taken to Frankfort for examination. Gaddis was still out gathering evidence at 5 p.m. Monday evening. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet closed the right eastbound lane between milepoints 53 and 54 for repairs until approximately 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 5.
