Georgetown man was passenger killed in New Circle excavator collision

The coroner has released the name of the 35-year-old man who died from his injuries after a car crashed into construction equipment Monday night on New Circle Road.

James Smallwood, of Georgetown, was in the front passenger seat of a car that wrecked on the inner loop near Old Frankfort Pike, according to the coroner. Construction work to widen New Circle Road has gone on for months in the area.

Lexington police Lt. Andrew Daugherty said Monday night that the driver of a Toyota Camry driver lost control, turned sideways and hit an excavator that was parked in the median.

The excavator’s track was embedded 2 feet into the passenger side of the car, and the passenger (Smallwood) had to be extricated, Daugherty said.

“The worst place he could have hit it, he hit it,” Daugherty said.

The driver was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital.

The crash happened just after 6 p.m., and the ramp to the inner loop of New Circle was shut down for several hours at Versailles Road while police investigated.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 8:26 AM with the headline "Georgetown man was passenger killed in New Circle excavator collision."