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City & State or ZIP Tonight, this weekend, May 5th...
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City & State or ZIP Tonight, this weekend, May 5th...
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B98.5 host Kelly Stevens victim of a wrong-way driver on GA-400

Kelly Stevens sent this picture of himself at Grady Hospital earlier today.

Kelly Stevens sent this picture of himself at Grady Hospital earlier today.

B98.5 morning host Kelly Stevens’ car was hit by a wrong-way driver Friday morning, but he survived.

The driver, 22-year-old Carly Royball died, when her vehicle hit his. (Details about why she was driving the wrong way is still being investigated.)

“I was in the left lane, then all of a sudden I looked up and there was headlights, it was a wrong-way driver. I heard the person who hit me didn’t make it,” Stevens said when he called into the radio station from the hospital.

Stevens’ co-host Vikki Locke wrote on a blog that he broke his left arm and leg and is being treated at Grady Hospital. He will have additional surgery next week. A Channel 2 Action News report said Stevens was fortunate to survive despite not wearing a seat belt.  When the authorities found him, he had been knocked into the backseat.

UPDATE on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012, 3:41 p.m.: his girlfriend Katie Buser said Kelly had surgery on his left leg yesterday, where doctors put a plate and a rod in. He also shattered his left elbow but it’s too swollen right now so they will postpone surgery until early next week. She said he is going to be moved from ICU to a regular room soon.

According to the WSB-TV story, “Officials said more than two dozen people have died in wrong way crashes since 2004 in Georgia, including Frampere Ingle who was drinking before she caused a wrong way crash on Ga. 400 in Buckhead last week.”

Jessica Forkel, the producer, said in an interview that she visited him today and he’s in high spirits. “I was shocked,” she said. “A million questions run through your mind… Vikki and I pulled together and lived the experience with our listeners.”

More info here on WSBTV.com

And here’s the AJC story. Plus, a Buzz item. (So we covered this quite thoroughly, eh?)

Last year, Jeremy “Fat Kid” Powell, a producer for the Dave FM morning show, got hit by then host Jimmy Baron’s vehicle as a pedestrian and broke an ankle and tailbone. He has now recovered. “My ankle is still sore,” he said in an interview this evening. “And that will probably come and go the rest of my life. I can’t run either, not that I did much before.”

Powell said he takes the same route as Stevens at about the same time at 4 a.m. but was running 10 minutes late. “I got on 400 South and they had it blocked. I had to go around on Roswell Road. I heard it was a wrong-way driver and thought, ‘That could have been me!’ When I found out it was Kelly Stevens, it was like, ‘Holy crap!’ It hit really close to home.”

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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk

14 comments Add your comment

Juan Archila

August 24th, 2012
10:55 pm

Wow. Amazing that Kelly survived… but is it really true that he DIDN’T wear a seat belt? How did he not go through the windshield?

Sheila Clift

August 24th, 2012
11:37 pm

Is it possible that Kelly could have unbuckled his belt and jumped into the backseat when he saw the car?

Mercedes S.

August 25th, 2012
8:16 am

Ths no seat belt thing need to be explained! Rodney?

dtanner

August 25th, 2012
12:48 pm

kelly hang in there bro., we are all pulling for you,have enjoyed you in the morn. for years, the friday song you and alpha used to play on fri. morning always put a big smile on my face

I agree...

August 25th, 2012
12:49 pm

…who doesn’t wear a seatbelt these days – especially at 3:30AM…

Mike

August 27th, 2012
1:29 pm

“A Channel 2 Action News report said Stevens was lucky because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.”

This sentence needs help. Was he lucky not to have been hurt more BECAUSE he wasn’t wearing a seat belt, or IN SPITE OF not wearing a seat belt?

Rodney Ho

August 27th, 2012
1:30 pm

@Mike. Okay. How about “A Channel 2 Action News report says Stevens was fortunate to survive despite not wearing a seatbelt.”

Mark A. Darling

August 27th, 2012
2:16 pm

Wow. A whole seven comments on this thread? Only one person even bothers to wish the guy well. Hoping for a swift recovery for you, Kelly.

BehindEnemyLines

August 27th, 2012
2:46 pm

Umm Mark, you only saw it & commented nearly 3 days after the original post yourself. And I hadn’t heard a single word about it beyond the initial accident report until just now. I suspect the story (which appeared first on a Friday evening) and then got bumped down by a newer blog entry a few hours later simply hasn’t gotten much traffic because of the timing.

Neither Kelly nor B98.5 are my cup of tea, but I certainly wish him a speedy recovery. I suspect a lot of other readers do/will also, if or when they see the story that is.

Rodney Ho

August 27th, 2012
2:55 pm

@BehindEnemyLines. You were right. I posted the Kelly Stevens item late on Friday, when traffic is slower. Plus, I was way late on the story. My colleague Jenn Brett wrote about it seven hours earlier, as did a breaking news reporter. I missed the news during the day working on other stuff and just posted it because this is the radio/TV blog and he’s a radio personality. (I actually saw the story on WSB-TV.) On top of the timing, the link hasn’t been given a lot of play and then it got quickly bumped down by other stories over the weekend. Put that together and that’s why there aren’t a lot of comments.

jon c

August 27th, 2012
4:23 pm

he should have worn his seatbelt, don’t we look up to these radio people, and then he wasn’t wearing a SEATBELT, DID ALPHA CALL INTO B98.5 HIS FORMER CO-HOST!

steve

August 27th, 2012
8:47 pm

What about the airbag? Not Vickie Locke, the one in his car.

Confused

August 28th, 2012
7:39 pm

He was driving in the left lane, LOOKED UP and saw head lights…..hmmmmmmm why would he need to LOOK UP? I think more investigating needs to be done.

Unknown

August 30th, 2012
8:05 am

I knew the girl driving wrong way… I’m confused as to why neither of the two were wearing a seatbelt. Also what did he look up from? There are so many unanswered questions! My heart goes out to both familes! A young person lost a life. No matter what let’s not foget that!