Crime & Safety

Update: Alleged Drunk Driver Hits Cars in Stone Mountain, Causes Fatal Wreck in Snellville

According to news reports, the driver was involved in hit and run accidents on Memorial Drive near Hambrick Road before going into Gwinnett County.

Updated 9:03 a.m. 1/24/13:

DeKalb County police plan to press charges against the alleged drunk driver that caused several accidents on Memorial Drive and Hambrick Road in Stone Mountain Wednesday night. The wrecks were among 15 caused by the driver, Gwinnett County police say, including a fatality in Snellville.

"We'll follow up, when we get the reports, with prosecutions for the hit and runs that occurred in DeKalb," James W. Conroy, Interim Assistant Chief for DeKalb County Police Department, told Patch.

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Gwinnett County police have charged Michael Owen Snider, of Stone Mountain, with vehicular homicide, serious injury by vehicle, DUI, reckless driving and following too closely.

DeKalb, Snellville and Gwinnett County police responded to the various scenes late Wednesday night, Jan. 23. 

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According to Snellville's Cpl. Jake Smith, the driver ended his rampage when he crashed into John Boy's restaurant on Highway 78. The last crash, on Walton, resulted in a fatality. 

Snellville Police were out in the area serving warrants when the driver nearly hit an officer's vehicle on Hewatt Road before causing the fatality on Walton. The driver, driving a large truck, attempted to flee the scene but Snellville Police were able to detain him. 

According to witnesses who spoke with WSB, the driver, a 70-year-old man, seemed to be intentionally trying to hit vehicles. 

"I was at the light over there and I looked in my rear view and I saw this big pickup truck like a Ford F-350 or something like that," driver Dennis Brown told WSB. "He intentionally tried to hit me so that's when he chased me, literally he chased me, on the road. It was like a video game. Really, I couldn't believe he was trying to do that." 

He also hit the vehicle of Jenetta and Manuel Johnson, according to CBS News. The couple also alleged that the ramming was intentional. 

"I just thought we were going to die. I just knew he was going to kill us. He would not stop hitting us," Jenetta Johnson told CBS. "He was just ramming us and ramming us, and then he hit the gas and went around."

Her husband, Manuel, said he thought the driver would go around them, but then hit them "again and again."

"My neck hurts and my back hurts pretty good," said Manuel Johnson.

The name of the final victim, a woman believed to be in her 60s, has not been released. 

Patch will update this story as more information is made available. 

 


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