Warren County Coroner John Thomason fills out a report as Deputy Chief Rose Shaifer of the Vicksburg Fire Department crosses in front of a fatal collision at the intersection of U.S. 61 North and Sherman Avenue Tuesday around 5:20 p.m.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[9/17/03]An 18-wheeler slammed into a Vicksburg woman’s vehicle Tuesday afternoon at Sherman Avenue and U.S. 61, killing her instantly.

Rory Allen Roberson, 52, 104 Brunswick Drive, had the green light in front of River Region Medical Center to leave Sherman, cross the southbound lanes and turn north toward her Eagle Lake home, witnesses said.

That’s when her Chevrolet Suburban was broadsided by the tractor-trailer truck, said Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Daniel Lewis.

The 18-wheeler was driven by Bryant Cox, 46, 5812 Jaguar Drive, Jacksonville, Fla., MHP spokesman Warren Strain said.

Cox was taken to River Region, where hospital spokesman Emily Weatherly said this morning he was treated and released.

Roberson, an employee of Ergon Inc. at the Vicksburg Harbor, died instantly in the 4:50 p.m. wreck, Warren County coroner John Thomason said.

Both drivers were alone in their vehicles, which came to rest against each other about 30 yards south of the center of the intersection and in the median of U.S. 61 North.

The tractor-trailer hauling ceiling tile overturned on its right side.

The lighted intersection was built when River Region opened in February 2002. It is the second light that southbound traffic encounters on U.S. 61 in Warren County.

The first is at Bowie Road, about a mile north.

Roberson, employed by Ergon for 21 years, was remembered by co-workers this morning as a “valued employee, friend, mother and grandmother to the Ergon family,” said Ken Dillard, refinery manager.

Riles Funeral Home of Vicksburg is in charge of arrangements.