Fatal crash on Shoemaker Drive

Officers with the DeFuniak Springs Police responded to a fatal traffic crash on Shoemaker Drive at 2:37 a.m. Sunday morning in which two people were killed.

A 1992 white four door Saturn had been observed traveling west on Highway 90 without headlights by a Walton County Sheriff’s Deputy who was traveling in the opposite direction. The vehicle then made a right turn onto Shoemaker Drive and proceeded in a northern direction at a high rate of speed.

The WCSO Deputy immediately turned around on the vehicle and had just initiated his top lights when the vehicle failed to negotiate a curve and left the road striking a tree head on.

The driver was identified as Jeremy Leon Reed, a black male of DeFuniak Springs. One of the passengers, identified as Beronica Dawn Thrash, a white female of DeFuniak Springs, died instantly in the crash.The other passenger, identified as Tarris Rynell Johnson, a black male of DeFuniak Springs, was transported to HealthMark Regional Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. Reed was air lifted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola and is listed in stable condition at the time of this release.

It was later determined that Reed’s driver license had been suspended and a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Alcohol may have been a factor in this fatal crash based on preliminary findings at the scene.

 The investigation into the cause of this crash is on-going by the DeFuniak Springs Police. Possible charges are pending.