Driver with powerful ties calls state rep instead of 911 after 'hit and run' crash

RonJohn

RonJohn

Helluva Engineer
Messages
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TechnicalPossum said:
If the information in this report is correct, all 3 need to be in state prison. Maybe somewhere warm near Augusta.
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I don't have much confidence in the information in the report. It is apparent that the driver was very far in the wrong. He hit someone and drove away. He called a lawyer instead of emergency services. After that point in the story, I have a hard time determining what is fact and what is conspiracy spin.

From the description in the story and the timeline, it is just as possible that: The driver called an "acquaintance" instead of a "friend" who is a lawyer. The lawyer didn't understand the magnitude of what was happening and drove to meet the driver. When the lawyer understood what the driver was saying, he immediately called the police chief. When the police chief understood what the lawyer was saying, he immediately called the sergeant to go investigate. As soon as the sergeant listened to the driver and saw the bicycle, he called EMS.

It is odd that the lawyer called the police chief directly. It is odd that the police chief used a phone instead of radio. However, there could be non-malicious reasons for that. I don't see any facts in the report that imply that there was an attempt by the lawyer or the police to cover up what happened.

The story states that the sergeant didn't call EMS until he found the victim. The timeline shows that the sergeant called EMS two minutes before finding the body. The story is very sloppily written. It has a slew of two-three sentence paragraphs that are more ramblings than a coherent story. It is possible that the lawyer and the police chief were trying to cover up for a friend of theirs. However, I would need to see more than a slipshod news report with inconsistencies to arrive at that conclusion.

Even with the bad reporting, it is pretty clear that the driver thought he might have hit a person and he still drove away. I am not a lawyer, but it appears that that should be felony hit and run and vehicular homicide. I don't know any of the people involved, but I do live in West Georgia. Not arresting the driver does surprise me. However, taking a long time to file charges doesn't surprise me. I knew of a few cases where it took a couple of years for indictments and court proceedings.(Those weren't hit and run but things like embezzlement and sexual assault.)
 

Sidewalking

Banned
Messages
104
Fatal auto accident investigations can take a while. But six months seems a tad extreme. Lots of questions about how this investigation was handled. But I agree with RonJohn above. It's pretty apparent the driver at fault committed a hit and run that was the immediate cause of a fatality. Was the driver's sobriety evaluated? That's a big unanswered question in this. It's way too early to finger point at anyone other than the driver. No one knows what was said to the state rep or when he realized how bad this incident likely was. As for the rep calling the chief. I think it would have obviously been better for him to call 911 instead of the chief. How many calls to the chief were made? Was the first call answered or did it take multiple calls to reach the chief? The answers to those questions will help determine if the rep took appropriate actions or not and to what degree.

It looks likely to me that by the time the Chief got called there was good reason to believe this was a serious situation. The chief called his sergeant on duty over the radio initially and requested he call him on the phone. This was probably the most expeditious way to relay information and get officer presence to the scene fastest. The timeliness on everything following that is pretty understandable.

The victim obviously may have survived if the dang driver had just done the right thing; stop, call 911, and attempt to provide aid to the victim. The worst he would be facing in that case, barring possible DUI / texting while driving thus reckless driving / etc might just be a simple traffic offense. (We also don't know what the weather conditions were, if the victim was wearing reflective clothing, if the bike was equipped with reflectors or lights.

The department needs to get this investigation concluded. Investigations need to be thorough but should not be unnecessarily prolonged. Also makes me wonder of results from the crime lab are possibly still pending....the crime lab is underfunded, understaffed and overwhelmed.
 
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