Trucking company starting foundation in memory of nursing students killed in crash

July 6, 2016

BRYAN COUNTY, Ga. -- (WRDW/WAGT) The trucking company at fault in a crash on I-16 that killed five Georgia Southern nursing students has agreed to establish an educational foundation in the victims' memory.

Total Transportation will create the Brightstar Educational Foundation, Inc, a nonprofit to honor the memory of Emily Elizabeth Clark, Morgan Jane Bass, Abbie Lorene DeLoach, Catherine "McKay" Pittman, and Caitlyn Nichole Baggett. The foundation will also honor Brittney McDaniel and Megan Rebecca Richards who were injured during the crash.

They will initially fund $200,000.00 to provide financial assistance to students applying for the nursing program at Georgia colleges. The foundation will also help provide educational programs and content about driver safety to Georgia schools and to the public.

In light of Total Transportation's decision, the District Attorney has dropped the indictment against them. The Indictment against the driver, John Wayne Johnson is still pending.

He is scheduled to be in court on July 14, 2016.

John Wayne Johnson and Total Transportation were indicted on more than a dozen and a half counts, including vehicular homicide and reckless driving.

The crash happened April 22, 2015, as the students drove to Savannah for their last day of clinical rotations. Along I-16 a tractor-trailer ran into the back of the young women’s vehicles at 68 mph without hitting the brakes. The tractor trailer was from Total Transportation of Mississippi. The rig hit one of the nursing student's cars, which then hit another one.