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Man charged in accident that injured Flowery Branch officer
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A Gainesville man has been charged with following too closely in a Saturday wreck that involved a Flowery Branch police officer.

Joshua Rhodes, 19, was traveling east on Jim Crow Road when he struck the rear of a patrol car driven by Flowery Branch Officer Chadwick Crenshaw, said Georgia State Patrol Operator Amber Sorrells.

Crenshaw had stopped in the roadway to check on another Flowery Branch officer, who had pulled on the shoulder of Jim Crow Road, she said.

Upon impact, Crenshaw’s vehicle "rotated clockwise and struck a brick mailbox," Sorrells said.

Crenshaw said that "he had his emergency lights activated as well as his headlights and taillights," she said.

Rhodes said he saw the blue lights of the patrol car on the shoulder of the road "but did not see the blue lights of the patrol car that was stopped in the roadway."

The wreck happened at about 1:10 a.m.

Crenshaw was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.

The extent of his injuries wasn’t immediately known. Flowery Branch Police Chief Gerald Lanich couldn’t be reached for comment.