Investigation still ongoing in fatal Dougherty County crash

ALBANY — After two fatal crashes within a mile of each other over a 24-hour period earlier in the week that resulted, officials with the Dougherty County Police Department said there appears to be no connection to the incidents.

The investigation was still ongoing Thursday afternoon into one of the cases, and no charges had been filed as of that time in that incident. The deceased victims from both incidents are an 82-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy.

Capt. Jason Hager said the first of the two accidents was called in Monday afternoon, which a DCP shift report said was at 2:51 p.m., at 4300 Gravel Hill Road — a half-mile north of the intersection with Nelms Road. He said an 82-year-old man, identified by Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler as Arthur Cheatham, was traveling north in a pick-up on Gravel Hill when he went off the east shoulder and hit a tree.

Hager said Cheatham was pronounced dead at the scene. He was cold to the touch, which indicates the crash may have happened some time before it was reported to police.

Fowler said Cheatham died from blunt force trauma, but had a medical condition that could have contributed to the accident.

Hager said no charges are expected in the Monday incident.

“The investigation is pretty cut and dry from our standpoint,” Hager said.

Hager said the second accident happened Tuesday at around 10:30 a.m., and involved two vehicles at the intersection of Gravel Hill and Nelms. He said there were a total of six victims involved, four in a pick-up and two in a Toyota Camry.

Fowler identified the deceased from that incident as Wesley Hubbard, 14, who died as a result of blunt force trauma. Hager said the teen was riding in the back of the pick-up with his family, ejected on impact and pronounced dead at the scene.

Hager said the Georgia State Patrol has been called in to assist in the investigation of the Tuesday crash. As the investigation is incomplete, it is not yet clear who is at fault.

“That is still under investigation,” the DCP captain said.

Hager said all the other individuals involved were transported from the scene with injuries, some of which were serious. He said witness statements are being collected, as is forensic evidence.

He added that the vicinity has traffic control devices including striping, stop signs and flashing lights. Dating back to 2015, Hager said there have been 13 traffic accidents at or near the intersection of Gravel Hill and Nelms — with only one other one resulting in injuries.

The captain said it appears that proximity is the only way the incidents are related, and that safety is not necessarily more of an issue there than at any other intersection.

“There is really no connection between the two,” he said.