Lassiter High Student, Father Die In South Georgia Car Crash

EAST COBB, GA — A 17-year-old Lassiter High School student and her father died Saturday afternoon in Dublin when their family’s Volkswagen Jetta collided with a truck headed toward it in the wrong lane.

Elizabeth “Libby” Rountree and her father Christopher, 53, were both pronounced dead at the scene, according to WMAZ-TV in Macon. Libby’s mother Erica and sister Cate were both seriously injured and taken to a Macon hospital.

According to the Georgia State Patrol, a GMC Sierra truck was traveling south in the northbound lane of U.S. 441 when the Rountrees' Jetta swerved to avoid hitting it head-on. Instead, the Sierra struck the front side driver’s door. Christopher Rountree had been driving, and Libby was sitting behind him.

“His actions saved Cate’s and my lives without a doubt,” said Erica Rountree, as reported by East Cobb News. “He has always been our protector and shield and I don’t know what we’ll do without him.”

On Monday, Lassiter High School Principal Chris Richie announced the deaths on the school’s PTSA Facebook page. Also on Monday, a GoFundMe campaign was posted to help cover the Rountree family’s funeral and hospital expenses. As of late Tuesday afternoon, it had raised more than $25,000.

Read the stories in East Cobb News and on the WMAZ-TV website.