MACON, Ga. — If you ask Sam Palmer to describe his best friend, Johnny Stewart, he would say there's not enough kind words to use.
"A brother to me, the most down to earth person you'd ever meet. Always had a smile of his face. He's one of those type of people that no matter what you had going on in your life, when you're around him, it all seemed to be alright," says Palmer.
Palmer says they first met in Boy Scouts around 8 years old. He says his favorite memory is the day they first met, getting lost in North Georgia.
"We ended up getting into a creek, we were in a creek for about an hour in like chest-deep water. We got lost. That was my first time really meeting him and being around him, and from then, we were best friends ever since," he says.
On Thursday, Palmer got news that Stewart was involved in a crane accident, and was in the hospital. Stewart later died from his injuries.
The Bibb County Sheriff's Office says it happened when a crane malfunctioned, dropping a Quality Inn sign onto Stewart and two other workers.
Stewart was 18 years old.
"Anybody that knows him or was as good as friends or half as good as friends as me and him were, we all agree on one thing. We were blessed to know him while he was here," says Palmer.
Friends say Stewart graduated from Bleckley County High School and was in school for welding at Oconee Fall Line Technical College.
Investigators from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates fatal workplace accidents, were called out to the scene.
A vigil for Stewart will be held Sunday night at his alma mater, Bleckley County High School.
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