Jul 6, 2008 11:36 am US/Eastern
Pastor Timothy Wright Fights For His Life
Critically Injured, Wife Killed In Collision
LOGANTON, Pa. (AP) ―
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Gospel singer Timothy Wright was critically injured in a car crash Saturday. (File)
CBS
Gospel singer and New York pastor Timothy Wright was critically injured in a crash in central Pennsylvania that killed his wife and a wrong-way driver who hit their vehicle, police said.
Wright is the pastor at Grace Tabernacle Christian Center in New York City. The church received calls from around the country after the wreck Friday night, said Wright's personal assistant, Phillip Culver.
"Pastor Timothy Wright is a well-known icon across the country for his music, for his ministry, and for his work in this community," Culver told NY1 News.
Wright, 61, was injured along with his 14-year-old grandson, D.J. Wright, and both were taken to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, according to a hospital spokesman.
Betty Wright, 58, of Roosevelt, N.Y., died in the three-vehicle crash on Interstate 80 in Greene Township, state police said.
The driver of the wrong-way car, John Pick, 44, of Lewisburg, also died, police said. A passenger in the third vehicle is in fair condition, said Geisinger spokesman Thomas Schaeffer.
Timothy Wright has released more than a dozen gospel recordings, and his latest album, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," came out last year.
The Wrights were returning from a Church of God in Christ conference in Detroit, said Leroy Johnson, a trustee at Grace Tabernacle.
The couple has five sons, and the family asked that no other information be released, Johnson said Saturday.
New York music agent Will Bogle called the news "completely deflating."
"He's been a mentor to me in ways he probably doesn't even know," said Bogle, who represents gospel performer Ricky Dillard. "He's a giving man; I've not seen a person more tangible to his church, to his community, to his friends. Everyone I know is deeply touched and saddened."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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