CLASSIC CITY NEWS

By Joe Johnson A suspect recently lost a police officer who was chasing him by driving through a residential neighborhood where the officer had to slow down for safety reasons. The incident happened at around 4 a.m. on August 21st when the officer saw a Honda Accord without a tag and its driver hid his face as he turned from Lexington Road onto Whit Davis Road. When the officer turned around to attempt a traffic stop the Honda sped away, returning to Lexington Road where he d

By Joe Johnson A child has died from injuries he suffered last weekend when struck by a pickup truck in eastside Athens. The incident happened on the evening of August 8th when 9-year-old Maxton Ball of Ellenwood wandered into the intersection of Lexington and Whit Davis roads, where he was struck by a Dodge Ram pickup. Police said that the child entered the roadway from the former Hardee’s parking lot but didn’t say how he came to be there. Ball Died in the hospital three da

By Joe Johnson A 66-year-old man died in the hospital this week from injuries he suffered on June 12th when his moped collided with a car on Lexington Road. David Keith Engel, whose home address was the Salvation Army homeless shelter, was injured on the afternoon of June 12th when he was riding his moped on Lexington Road and a car traveling in the opposite direction turned into his path at East Meadow Drive and he was ejected in the collision. The incident continued for be

By Joe Johnson The motorcyclist who lost his life Tuesday morning after crashing on the Athens Perimeter has been identified. According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, 46-year-old Crawford resident Michael Fletcher was traveling west on the highway and approaching Epps Bridge Parkway when his motorcycle left the roadway and struck a cable barrier in the median, causing him to be ejected. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

By Joe Johnson Izalee Tasha Cooper, 32, of Vine Street, has been sentenced to five years in prison for a car crash last year in which her teenage niece was seriously injured. She pleaded guilty in Superior Court last week to driving under the influence of a controlled substance and causing serious injury with a motor vehicle . Judge H. Patrick Haggard gave Cooper a total sentence of 15 years, with the first five to be served in prison and the balance on probation, The crash o

By Joe Johnson Brian Alberto Ozuna, 16, of Lucky Jones Road in Hull, was hospitalized on the night of May11th after he crashed his car while fleeing from police in Athens. The incident began at around 8:30 pm when a police officer attempted a traffic stop on the teen’s Dodge Charger because it’ appeared to have illegally dark tinted windows, After bringing his car to a stop, Ozuna suddenly raced away as the officer was walking toward him, The officer estimated that during the

Released this afternoon by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department On May 16, at approximately 1:55 PM, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department responded to a single-vehicle dirt bike crash near the intersection of Whit Davis Road and Pettit Lane. When ACCPD arrived, the operator of the dirt bike, Worley Lorenzo Robinson, a 28-year-old male from Elberton, Georgia, was located in the roadway with critical injuries. ACCPD’s initial investigation indicated that Robinson wa

By Joe Johnson Police are investigating a man’s complaint that another driver pointed a gun at him in a road rage incident on Atlanta Highway last week The 47-year-old Winder resident said it happened at around 6 pm in the area of the Georgia Square mall and the suspect was driving a box truck which, according to police, was registered to Bad Wolf Trucking in McDonough. The victim managed to take a photo of the driver, which police sent to the trucking company for their inves

By Joe Johnson Crystal Jean Bloodworth, 38, of Jackson, Mississippi, was arrested last month after a high-speed police chase with a child in her car. The child was unrestrained while lying on a pile of clothing and Bloodworth was under the influence of drugs at the time, according to arrest warrants on file at Superior Court. Athens-Clarke County police said they are prevented by law from releasing the incident report because it involves a charge of first-degree cruelty to a

By Joe Johnson A University of Georgia student has been sentenced to probation for an alleged drunk-driving incident in which his car struck and killed a man three years ago. Benhur G. Tedfai, a 23-year-old management information systems major, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge for the 2023 incident on West Broad Street that claimed the life of 34-year-old Michael Jerrell Kitchen. He entered the plea in an agreement with prosecutors after a Superior Cour

By Joe Johnson The police department is investigating an incident late Sunday afternoon involving a vehicle striking a pedestrian . It happened at about 5:45 pm and led to the closure of all lanes of Lexington Road at Atlas Way. Emergency responders had yet to clear the scene an hour later, when police began diverting eastbound traffic onto Titan Drive. From the Athens-Clarke County News Facebook page Classic City News has confirmed that a pedestrian was struck and has reache

Released today by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department: On March 6, 2026, at approximately 5:15 AM, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department responded to a single-vehicle crash at the intersection of Cedar Shoals Drive and Whit Davis Road. The initial investigation indicated that a 2010 Volkswagen Jetta was traveling eastbound on Cedar Shoals Drive when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree. The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, 32-year-old Rochelle Jo

By Joe Johnson Kevin Moreno-Cortes, 22, of West Broad Street, was arrested on the evening of March 12th after his truck struck two pedestrians in downtown Athens and he drove away. The incident happened just before 6 pm at the intersection of Pulaski and West Broad streets where a pair of 22-year-old students were crossing the street in a marked crosswalk when they were struck by Moreno-Cortes’s pickup truck. Police said that the driver left the scene without checking on th

The following was released by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department On February 21, 2026, at approximately 8:30 PM, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department responded to an injury crash on Olympic Drive. Initial investigation indicates that the driver of a 2013 BMW 650i sedan struck a bicyclist operating a GS5 740W electric bike in the rear. Both vehicles were traveling westbound on Olympic Drive, near the intersection of Athena Drive. The bicyclist, Kul Chokhal, a 37-

By Joe Johnson A judge has denied bail to an Athens woman who was arrested after crashing her car into Kroger on Alps Road, injuring several employees and shoppers, Following a January 28th hearing in Superior Court, Judge H. Patrick denied the woman’s request for bail on the grounds that if released from jail she would pose a significant threat to the community and likely commit additional crimes. Authorities say that 41-year-old Lonneshia Appling was high on methamphetamine

The following was released by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department On January 28, 2026, at approximately 7:35 p.m., ACCPD officers responded to a single-vehicle crash in the 300 block of Peabody Street. The investigation determined that a 2018 Toyota Tundra was parked along Peabody Street while the driver, George Whittenburg, a 21-year-old UGA studen of Austin, Texas, was standing outside the driver’s door. The vehicle began rolling in reverse, striking and rolling over

By Joe Johnson Oconee County teenager was recently arrested after he led police on a chase that began in downtown Athens and ended on the front lawn of a University of Georgia sorority house. The incident began at around 2:30 a.m. on December 13th when a police officer was flagged down about a possible fight in the area of Jackson and South streets. When the officer arrived in the area he saw a car that appeared to be driving towards him to intentionally hit the police car.

By Joe Johnson The motorist who was killed at an eastside intersection Christmas morning when his car crashed and burst into flames has been identified by police as 36-year-old Edwin Webb of Athens. The incident happened shortly before 6 a.m. at the intersection of Barnett Shoals and Gaines School roads. According to police, the car had sped into the intersection and struck a tree in the parking lot of Synovus Bank, where the vehicle became engulfed in flames. Webb’s badly

By Joe Johnson Lonneshia Shafaye Appling was high on methamphetamine on the morning of December 16th when she crashed her car into the Alps Road Kroger, injuring several employees and shoppers. That’s according to arrest records filed in court by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department. The most seriously injured victim was a Kroger employee whose skull was fractured. Appling is a 40-year-old career criminal whose extensive rap sheet includes felony shoplifting conviction

By Joe Johnson A 36-year-old Athens man was killed Christmas morning when his car crashed and burst into flames at an eastside intersection. Police are withholding the victim’s name pending positive identification by his next of kin. The incident happened shortly before 6 a.m. at the intersection of Barnett Shoals and Gaines School roads. According to police, the car had sped into the intersection and struck a tree in the parking lot of Synovus Bank, where the vehicle beca