By Joe Johnson
Prosecutors recently dismissed an attempted murder charge against a man who last year allegedly tried to kill himself and his ex-girlfriend by causing the Athens woman’s car to collide with a tractor-trailer on the Athens Perimeter
As part of a negotiated agreement, 37-year-old David Leon Maxwell pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, a charge of criminal attempt to commit murder was dismissed, and he was sentenced to one year in confinement and nine years on probation, according to documents filed in Clarke County Superior.
According to an Athens-Clarke County police report, the incident occurred the night of Nov. 5, 2018, after the Athens woman drove Maxwell to the Kangaroo convenience store at Prince Avenue and North Chase Street.
Maxwell reportedly was intoxicated at the time and he yelled and cursed at the woman as they drove.
Upon arriving at the store, the woman attempted to leave the car to call police but Maxwell allegedly grabbed her seat belt and pulled it until it was across her throat and then he reached over to close the driver’s side door, according to the police report.
The woman said she then tried to drive Maxwell to his home in Hull, but after getting onto the Athens Perimeter from North Chase Street, Maxwell stated that he “would kill me and you in this ...” and grabbed the steering wheel, veering the car into safety barrier cables in the center median. But the woman did not remember what happened next, according to the police report.
The driver of a tractor-trailer reportedly told police that after the car bounced off the barrier cables it struck his rig and then got stuck underneath the trailer. Police said the truck dragged the car for nearly 450 feet.
When police arrived on the scene, the Athens woman was sitting on an embankment with scrapes and cuts to her face, according to the police report.
Meanwhile, Maxwell was pinned inside the car and had to be extricated by firefighters. He was taken to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center, where he spent two months until being released into police custody and taken to jail.