Moultrie man dies in Texas collision

Published 4:00 pm Monday, May 8, 2023

MOULTRIE – A 46-year-old Moultrie man is one of five people who died in an automobile crash Saturday morning in Texas.

Lubbock, Texas, Police Department officers were dispatched to the 7000 block of the Marsha Sharp Freeway at 1:28 a.m. following reports of a collision with multiple injuries, according to a press release Monday.

Through the initial course of the investigation, the Lubbock Police Department’s Major Crash Investigation Unit said it appears a minivan, driven by 23-year-old Xavier Caballero, was traveling east in the right lane of the 7000 block of the freeway when it was struck head-on by an SUV driven by 46-year-old George Wallace, as it was traveling west in the eastbound lanes.

Both Caballero and Wallace were pronounced deceased at the scene, police. Wallace was a Moultrie resident.

The release said the minivan’s occupants included the front-seat passenger, 21-year-old Melodi Boivin, who was also pronounced deceased at the scene. A 1-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy were in car seats in the minivan. An ambulance transported them to University Medical Center, where they were later pronounced dead.

Wallace was the only occupant in the SUV, the police department’s release said.

The investigation is still ongoing.

Wallace was known in the Colquitt County area as a coach of the local Pop Warner Youth Football Program and as founder of the Christmas Love Project, which helped local families at Christmastime. He was affiliated with the Greater Newton Grove Cathedral, where his brother-in-law, the Rev. Cornelius Ponder III, is pastor.