A Navy senior chief died earlier this month after he was struck by a vehicle near Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay.
Electronics Technician, Submarines, Communications Senior Chief Johnathan Corker was attempting to cross Kings Bay Road near an intersection with Pro Three Parkway around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 1 when he was stuck by a woman driving a Nissan Rogue, according to crash and incident reports from the Georgia State Patrol.
The driver swerved to miss Corker but he was struck by the passenger side of the Nissan, according to the crash report obtained by Navy Times.
He was about 50 feet from a cross walk. The driver stopped up the road and called 911.
Corker was taken to Southeast Georgia Health System’s Camden Campus where he died from his injuries.
The driver was on her way to check to make sure she had locked a door at her workplace when the incident occurred, according to police reports.
She was not arrested following the incident and charges are not anticipated, said state patrol spokeswoman Lt. Stephanie L. Stallings.
According to an obituary, Corker was a family man who loved fishing and golfing. A military funeral was held Dec. 6 at the Kings Bay base chapel.
A career submariner, Corker, 37, enlisted in early 2002, according to his Navy biography.
Since May he had been assigned to Submarine Squadron 20, which is responsible for the maintenance and operations of five Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines — the Alaska, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland and Rhode Island.
He previously served on board the ballistic missile submarine Georgia from April 2016 through April 2019.
Corker’s family declined interview requests placed with Submarine Squadron 20 spokeswoman Lt. Katie Diener.
“The submarine community is extremely close and is deeply saddened by the sudden loss of a shipmate," Diener said in a statement to Navy Times.
"Every death of a sailor is devastating and affects our entire Navy family. Our sympathies and condolences are with the family, friends and shipmates of Senior Chief Corker.”
Courtney Mabeus-Brown is the senior reporter at Air Force Times. She is an award-winning journalist who previously covered the military for Navy Times and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., where she first set foot on an aircraft carrier. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and more.
