Victims in Tuesday Talladega accident identified

Police said Wednesday that One of the two people killed in a wreck in Talladega on Tuesday was a pregnant woman.  The two-vehicle accident occurred at about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday on the 275 bypass, when a 1998 Dodge Dakota pickup truck traveling south on Jackson Trace Road ran a stop sign and was struck by an 18-wheeler. It appears that the 18-wheeler driver attempted to stop, but was unable to do so in time.  40 year old Geneva Gardner, and 35 year old Winter Waites, were riding in the bed of the pickup truck at the time of the accident. Both were ejected, and both were pronounced dead at the scene.  Waites was carrying a child at the time of the accident, although it was not immediately clear how far along she was.  After the initial collision between the two vehicles, the pickup truck was spun around and slammed into a metal guardrail. The passenger in the cab, 18 year old Bethany Gardner, was ejected through the passenger-side window. She was unconscious but still alive when police arrived.  The driver of the pickup truck, 50 year old Kenneth Wilkerson, also survived the impact, but was “semi-conscious” and disoriented when police arrived.  Wilkerson and Bethany Gardner were both airlifted to University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital by LifeSaver helicopter.  The driver of the 18-wheeler was uninjured, but was transported to Citizens Baptist Medical Center for a drug test, as required by law. The accident remains under investigation.