Washington Police officers have arrested the hit-and-run trucker who sped off July 18 after his 18-wheeler crushed a small car at Slaton's Crossing on Highway 78.

Washington Police Chief Mike Davis said that David E. Thompson, 37, of Colbert, Georgia, turned himself in Friday, after explaining why he fled the wreck. "He said, 'I was scared,'" Davis said. "As close as he came to killing those people, he should have been scared enough to stop, but he kept going - didn't even slow down."

Thompson was charged with failure to report an accident with injury, and with failure to obey a traffic control device. He was released on bail.

Witnesses say Thompson's white Freightliner was traveling up Highway 78 from the direction of Thomson, approaching the busy and dangerous intersection at Highway 378, the heart of Washington's bypass business district.

The witnesses agree that the truck ran a red light and hit a car driven by William D. Hollimon, 56, of Valdosta, spinning it around and tossing the car under the truck's trailer, crushing the rear of the car.

Hollimon and two passengers were transported to Wills Memorial Hospital. "Those people weren't badly hurt, but they were lucky to be alive," Chief Davis said.

After getting the report of the hit-and-run, Washington Police and Wilkes County deputies searched for the truck that witnesses described, as did Georgia State Patrol troopers and deputies in neighboring counties, but the truck was not found.

By Friday, word that Washington police were looking for him reached David Thompson, the driver, who drove the truck for Adams Motor Express of Carnesville.

Chief Davis said that Thompson called Washington Police and arranged to meet officers here. He apparently didn't expect to be arrested, Davis said. "But he was wrong."