Woodstock Man Dies in Saturday Accident

Updated: Wednesday 10 a.m.

A Woodstock man was killed from injuries he sustained in a vehicle collision in Northeast Cobb Saturday afternoon.

Jose L. Maldonato III, 23, was pronounced dead Monday at the Atlanta Medical Center where he was flown after his vehicle collided with another.

Maldonato was driving a gray Mitsubishi Lancer north on Canton Road toward Woodstock Saturday afternoon. At the intersection with Shallowford Road, he swerved into the southbound lanes and collided with a silver 1995 Infiniti J30 about 3:20 p.m., according to a news release from Cobb County police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce. The Infiniti smashed into the door on the right side of the Lancer.

The crash occurred as the stoplight for the Canton Road drivers was cycling from yellow to red, investigators with the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program Unit found.

Maldonato swerved into oncoming traffic, police said, to avoid hitting a white passenger car that was turning left from southbound Canton Road onto eastbound Shallowford Road before the light turned red. Witnesses described that vehicle as an early 1990s Cadillac or Oldsmobile, Pierce said.

Maldonato was flown to Atlanta Medical Center in critical condition.

The driver of the Infiniti, 85-year-old Charles E. Meredith of East Cobb, was taken to with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.

STEP investigators want to talk to the driver of the white car that caused Maldonato to swerve out of the way. That white car did not make contact with the Lancer and continued east on Shallowford Road.

Police are still asking anyone with information that could help identify that driver to call 770-499-3987.