Police reportedly allowed driver to leave after running into pedestrians in downtown Athens crosswalk

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By Joe Johnson

On the night of April 25th a man and woman were struck by a car as they crossed the street near the Live Wire event venue at Dougherty and Hull Streets.

According to witnesses, the couple was among a group of people in a marked crosswalk, but were not as quick as others to get out of the way of the car.

They were both struck by the vehicle and at least one of them was transported to the hospital, a spokesman for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department confirmed.

The spokesman, nearly a week after the incident, said that the incident report and additional information was unavailable.

According to witnesses, however, both the man and woman were taken away in an ambulance. The injuries didn’t seem to be severe, they said, and the victims appeared to be an older couple, possibly at least in their mid-60’s.

Katie Prince, who was working the door at Live Wire that night witnessed what happened and gave a statement to police.

She said the car was going about 20-30 mph when it entered the crosswalk and it was occupied by two college-age young women.

An officer searched the car and poured out the contents of anapparent bottle of alcohol, according to Prince, who did not observe the driver being checked for sobriety before being allowed by police to leave.

The incident occurred about two hours after two people were struck by a vehicle in a crosswalk on the eastside, next to McDonald’s on Gaines School Road.

One of the victims was killed and the other died at his the hospital.

The driver was arrested and charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle and failure to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.