Crime & Safety
2 Dead, Multiple Injured In Fiery Wrong-Way GA Crash
Among those injured was a pregnant woman, whose husband died in the wrong-way crash at the GA-10 Inner Loop, according to a GoFundMe.
ATHENS, GA — Two people were killed, and multiple people were injured, in a wrong-way crash involving four vehicles Sunday on the GA-10 Inner Loop at Chase Street, police said.
The Athens-Clarke County Police Department said the crash happened around 12:15 a.m. near Oglethorpe Avenue.
Desiree Browning, a 26-year-old Lawrenceville resident, was driving a 2021 Kia Seltos the wrong way on GA-10 when she first hit a 2021 Mercedes-Benz then a 2020 Ford Expedition, police said.
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The Kia continued the wrong way, hitting a 2017 Toyota Camry head-on, police said. The Kia then rested on the cable barriers, where it burst into flames, police said.
The occupants in the Mercedes-Benz and Ford Expedition suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
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However, Browning died at the scene, while a passenger in the Kia was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, police said.
The driver of the Toyota, Soonhoon Choi, 25, of Athens, also died of his injuries at the scene, police said. They added a passenger in the Toyota was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
According to a GoFundMe, the Toyota passenger was identified as Choi's pregnant wife, who is in the intensive-care unit.
"Every hour is crucial, and her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and filled with immense physical and emotional challenges. Soonhoon was a loving husband, a devoted partner, and a bright soul taken far too soon. (His wife) now faces overwhelming medical expenses, extended hospitalization, recovery costs, and the unimaginable grief of losing her husband while trying to survive and protect her child," read the GoFundMe.
Aaron Bedgood Jr., organizer of the GoFundMe, said raised funds will benefit emergency and ongoing medical care, living expenses during recovery, a funeral for Choi and long-term support for his wife and child.
The GoFundMe raised more than $4,000 of its $28,000 goal as of early Monday afternoon.
This is the eighth fatality crash, resulting in ten deaths, in Athens-Clarke County this year.
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