By Joe Johnson
A Hart County man has been charged with vehicular homicide in connection with a recent vehicle crash in Athens that killed a pregnant passenger.
According to Athens-Clarke County police, 37-year-old Clinton Jester of Hartwell was driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer the morning of Jan. 16 when he ran a red light on Danielsville Road at Hull Road and crashed into a tree.
His front-seat passenger, 27-year-old Alana Barnes of Lavonia died at the hospital, and police said her 15-week-old fetus did not survive.
Police said Jester suffered superficial injuries and that a backseat passenger was not injured.
Jester on Wednesday afternoon was taken into custody by police for a parole violation, and they later served him with warrants charging him with first-degree homicide by vehicle, first-degree feticide by vehicle, reckless driving, failure to obey a traffic control device, failure to maintain lane, driving while license suspended, driving too fast for conditions, and possession of methamphetamine.
The charges stemmed from an investigation by ACCPD’s Traffic Unit.
““As law enforcement officers, we have no greater responsibility than to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for another person’s death, said Lt. Jonathan McIlvaine, commanding officer of the Traffic Unit.
“We hope that this arrest of Clinton Jester will begin to provide some measure of closure to Alana Barnes's family,” he said.
Prayers for this family 🙏🏽