MOULTRIE, Ga. — A driver who struck several cars Thursday afternoon in downtown Moultrie told police that he lost consciousness while coughing.

An alcohol test indicated that the driver, Chris Johnson of Moultrie, had not been drinking before the 4:55 p.m. crash on East Central Avenue. And a check of his cell phone showed that he had not been using it to text or talk at the time of the accident, police said.

Johnson told police that he had had a cold for several days and was coughing just before the collision and that he “blacked out.”

Police said that Johnson, 46, was driving west in a 2017 Kia Optima and struck a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado driven by William Lattimore that was parked at Colquitt County Courthouse Annex.

The Kia continued in the same direction and struck a 2011 Ford Escape driven by Nora Alvarez-Lagos that also was traveling west.

Alvarez-Lagos told police that she saw the car approaching from behind at a high rate of speed and stopped. Johnson’s car side-swiped the Escape, struck another car and was “launched in the air.”

Gloria Lewis, whose 1996 Chevrolet Caprice Classic was struck from behind, reported that the Kia flipped in the air and slid along the pavement to impact her car.

Johnson did not report any injuries but went to Colquitt Regional Medical Center for evaluation, police said.

In a separate accident earlier on Thursday a semi truck overturned at about 10:11 a.m..

Driver Alvaro Soria was headed south on Veterans Parkway and making a left turn onto First Avenue Southeast.

Soria told police that as he was making the turn a car entered his lane and when he turned to avoid a collision the truck rolled over.

A witness told police that there were no other cars in the intersection.

Investigation showed that Soria was driving too fast and that the hopper trailer being pulled “carried a center of gravity too high for the speed of the turn,” police said.

Soria was cited for running a red light. He was taken to Colquitt Regional for treatment.