At least 30 dead on Clayton County roads this year
by Robin Kemp
Clayton County police say a head-on crash on Georgia Highway 138 at Scotts Road in Riverdale early this morning (Sunday, July 25) killed a pregnant woman, a child, and a man in another vehicle who had sped off from emergency crews about a mile away. The other driver is hospitalized in critical condition.
The crash brings to at least 30 people who have died in traffic accidents or been struck while walking along Clayton County roads since January 1.
Around 1:31 a.m., police say, officers responded to the scene, then learned that Clayton County Fire and Emergency Services had just responded to a person-down call at Georgia Highway 138 and West Fayetteville Road. Emergency crews found a man slumped over the wheel of a Ford F-150 and tapped on the window.
“The man woke in a confused state and sped off down Highway 138,” according to CCPD spokesperson Sgt. Julia Isaac.
Just over a mile away, police say, the man apparently hit the other vehicle, driven by the man now in critical condition, and whose passengers included the pregnant woman, the child, and a dog. The man in the F-150 died at the scene; the pregnant woman and child died at the hospital. Isaac said Clayton County Animal Control is holding the dog until family members can pick it up.
Because not all family members had been notified as of press time, CCPD is withholding the names of the people who died.
- On Friday, July 23, a 12-year-old autistic boy was killed after he ran into traffic at Noah’s Ark Road and Floyd Road. His caretaker, who tried to save him, also was struck and hospitalized in serious condition.
- On Wednesday, July 21, relatives of 25 people who have died in traffic and pedestrian accidents in Clayton County so far this year held a vigil and butterfly release in front of the Harold R. Banke Justice Center on Tara Boulevard. A 26th victim, Hue Phan, 81, died one day after hitting CCPD Ofc. Armando Mendoza’s 13-year-old police cruiser on Tara Boulevard and North Main Street. District 3 Commissioner Felicia Franklin vowed to the families that she would make the county’s roads safer “if it’s the last thing I do.” Franklin is calling for pedestrian bridges, especially over Tara Boulevard; contiguous sidewalks; more street lighting; and other road safety improvements.
- On June 22, just a few hours before Kenyell Price, 43, was killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home near Tara Boulevard and Iron Gate Boulevard, CCPD had responded to another apparent hit-and-run victim who was still alive near the Starbucks at Tara Boulevard and Mount Zion Boulevard. CCPD said that person survived.
This latest fatal wreck means that an average of more than one person per week has been killed on Clayton County roads since January 1.
