Brantley school graduate and Faulkner University wide receiver Daquan Pittman sustained critical injuries in a vehicle crash on Feb. 11 while traveling home from a basketball game in Florala around 8:30 p.m.

Florala Police Department Interim Chief Greg McGraw said Pittman was traveling north on U.S. Highway 331, headed from Florala toward Brantley, when the accident occurred. Skid marks at the scene indicated Pittman’s 2002 Mazda 626 rounded a sharp curve, then entered oncoming traffic and struck Tracy Presley’s 2006 Ford Explorer head on.

“It appeared to me that Pittman crossed the center line and hit [Presley] head on,” McGraw said. 

McGraw said he was at Florala High School just after Brantley School’s basketball game, when he was called to respond to the crash. Upon arrival, he joined Advanced EMS and the Florala Fire Department in their efforts to rescue Pittman from his vehicle.

“Covington County Sheriff’s Department sent a couple of deputies to assist me with traffic control,” McGraw said. “[First responders] were using the jaws of life to extract [Pittman] from the vehicle and he was transported to the hospital by ambulance.”

Covington County Sheriff’s Deputy Phillip Barrett arrived on the scene to assist McGraw, and helped rescue Pittman, who was trapped in his vehicle.

“The fire department used the jaws of life to cut away the whole left driver’s side door to get him out,” Barrett said. “His legs were pinned with the steering wheel. He was coming into consciousness and we kept talking to him to wake him up. A few times he almost didn’t wake up, but then he finally did. It took a few minutes to cut the doors off so we could get him out.”

Presley sustained non-life-threatening injuries, McGraw noted. Both drivers were transported by ambulance to HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital.

Presley was treated and released, and Pittman is still undergoing treatment.

Brantley students joined community members in front of the school Monday night to pray for Pittman. 

Family members and friends posted on social media, writing that Pittman experienced internal bleeding and has undergone several surgeries to repair injuries to his liver, kidneys, and pancreas duct. The latest surgery reconstructed his stomach so it can function without the pancreas. 

As of Friday, Pittman was stable and focusing on rest and healing. The community has rallied to support Pittman and friends are selling $5 bracelets in his favorite color, blue, to assist in the effort.

For more information contact Brantley School at (334) 527-8879.