A Hall County widow was killed from a car striking her about 11 a.m. Wednesday in the 4500 block of East Hall Road before careening out of control into a steep ravine.

Hall County Coroner Marion Merck identified the woman as Syble Grindle, 69.

She was walking outside her home when the accident happened, investigators said.

The driver of the four-door silver vehicle was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.
His identification and condition were not available late Wednesday.

Parts of East Hall Road were blocked for several hours as Georgia State Patrol troopers and its Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team investigated the accident.

Troopers could not be reached late Wednesday.

At the scene they used fluorescent paint to outline the car's possible path south, where tire impressions veered briefly off the curb before returning to the road and bending sharply into a bed of grass on the opposite side of East Hall Road. The tracks disappeared into the gorge.

Grindle's actions seemed more difficult to fathom Wednesday as investigators and Hall County Sheriff's Office Victim/Witness Advocacy deputies communicated with family members.

Their cars began arriving soon after the call to 911 around 11:12 a.m. Family members, friends and their pastor stood outside Grindle's white clapboard home for hours as temperatures dropped along with hopes their loved one was still alive.

Around 2 p.m., tow truck pulleys hoisted the silver car, which fell about 100 feet, witnesses said.

Soon after, Hall County firefighters helped free the woman who was soon identified as Grindle. A wireless phone from inside her home was found on the side of the road as well.

A mailbox outside the home named Winfred and Syble Grindle as residents.

But an obituary published Dec. 1, 2010, in The Times reported the death of Winfred Dewey Lee Grindle Sr., 73, on Nov. 30. His wife Syble was named in the notice.