DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man has been charged with vehicular murder after police stated he was one in all two drivers racing at greater than 100 mph (160 km/h) in a Sept. 4 crash that killed 5 teenagers in a Atlanta suburbs. freeway.
Emanuel Rene Isfahani, a 20-year-old Lawrenceville man, turned himself in Tuesday and was charged with 5 counts of vehicular murder, Gwinnett County police stated. He’s additionally charged with reckless driving, racing, rushing, unsafe lane change, and failure to put on a seat belt.
Isfahani was being held in jail with out bail set on Wednesday. A clerk in Gwinnett County Justice of the Peace Courtroom stated no look date has been set but earlier than a choose and no lawyer is listed in court docket information. The Related Press couldn’t instantly discover a telephone quantity related to Esfahani’s tackle.
Investigators say Isfahani was racing a pickup truck pushed by 18-year-old Hung Nguyen round 4 a.m. on Labor Day on Georgia 316 when the 2 collided with a slower car. Police say they imagine Isfahani, who was driving an Infiniti G35, swerved into the correct emergency lane on a curved overhead ramp that merges with Interstate 85 to go the automobile, whereas Nguyen handed it from the left.
However Isfahani encountered a truck parked within the emergency lane, swerved left and collided with Nguyen’s Toyota Tacoma. Investigators say the truck then started to spin and roll, fell over a concrete barrier 37 ft (11.3 meters) to the bottom, after which got here to relaxation the wrong way up on an adjoining exit ramp.
The wreck killed Nguyen and 4 passengers: 17-year-old Katie Gaytan of Atlanta, 16-year-old Ashley Gaytan of Atlanta, 17-year-old Coral Lorenzo of Atlanta, and 19-year-old Abner Santana of Lawrenceville. Sisters Gaetan and Lorenzo had been college students at Lakeside Excessive Faculty in DeKalb County.
One passenger within the Tacoma survived. Jonathan Reyes, 18, suffered minor accidents and was launched from the hospital the following day.
Investigators stated two of the truck’s occupants survived the accident. Neither of them was carrying a seat belt, however investigators had been unable to find out whether or not the second passenger was carrying a seat belt.
A 3rd driver on the exit ramp struck one of many victims who was ejected from Tacoma, Gwinnett County Police Capt. Ryan Windroedle stated. He stated that the driving force of the third automobile was injured when he stopped and tried to get off the highway by climbing over a wall on a bridge. The third driver fell 25 ft (7.6 m) right into a creek, breaking a number of bones.
The accident occurred about 23 miles (37 kilometers) northeast of downtown Atlanta.