First responders and sheriff’s deputies help Gerard Tyson (center) return to the scene after Sunday’s fatal accident on Pecan Grove Road, as EMS director Blake Thompson and others tried to resuscitate Stedric Bernard McLendon inside the ambulance. The Georgia State Patrol is investigating whether or not alcohol played a role in a fatal wreck that took the life of a Tignall man Sunday afternoon.

Stedric Bernard McLendon, 31, of Tignall, was killed when the car in which he was a passenger crashed on Pecan Grove Road. According to troopers on the scene, the Lexus in which McLendon was a passenger went off the right side of Pecan Grove Road in a curve. The driver overcorrected and the car went off the left side of the road, hit a tree, and overturned at least once, landing on its wheels.

A Wilkes County first responder, Dennis Weaver, came upon the accident three or four minutes after the crash, EMS Director Blake Thompson said, and found McLendon in the passenger seat without a pulse. Weaver began to try to resuscitate McLendon, and CPR efforts went on for 45 minutes until McLendon was declared dead in the Wills Memorial Hospital Emergency Room.

As other first responders arrived, they saw another man, Gerard Tyson, running in the woods near the wreck. Seeing that he had injuries, they brought him back to the scene for treatment. He was transported to Athens Regional Hospital, where his condition is unknown at this time.

The investigation is continuing as to whether Tyson was the driver, and whether alcohol was involved.