By Joe Johnson
A recent University of Georgia graduate received a 15-year sentence this week for causing a 2016 DUI collision that injured four people when she struck their vehicle head-on.
Caitlyn Dakota Makenzie was 18 years old on May 22, 2016 when she was driving a car west on Oconee Street that crossed the center line and plowed into another car near Williams Street, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.
The other motorist and her three passengers were all injured, as was Mackenzie, according to the police report.
Mackenzie received a visible ankle injury and one of the passengers in the other car suffered a fractured spine, according to court documents.
A police officer noted in a report that Mackenzie’s hand bore the mark of an “X,” a method bars use to identify patrons who are of legal drinking age. Mackenzie admitted to using fake ID to get into bars downtown.
The indictment charged Mackenzie, who graduated from UGA last month, with two counts of DUI, six counts of causing serious injury with a motor vehicle, failure to maintain lane and reckless driving.
Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens on Monday sentenced Mackenzie as a first offender to 15 years, with the first 90 days to be served in jail, with the confinement portion of the sentence to be suspended upon her successful completion of 120 to 180 days in a probation detention center.
The remainder of the sentence is to be served on probation, according to the sentencing document filed in Clarke County Superior Court.