May 13, 2003
Dougherty Co.-- Twenty-year-old Erica Williams was killed when she was thrown from her car in the Friday morning crash on U.S. 19 near the Dougherty-Mitchell County line. Another woman was injured in the wreck.
Tuesday morning, Dougherty County Police arrested two women for running Williams' car off the road. Investigators believe the fight started over a man.
22-year-old Nakesha Smith is charged with 1st Degree Vehicular Homicide. She was driving a 1998 Honda Civic that forced Williams' Ford Explorer off the Road Friday morning. "Their reckless and aggressive driving resulted in the death," said Lt. Craig Reno, of the Dougherty Co. Police Department.
22-year-old Mary Salters is also charged with Vehicular Homicide. She was a passenger and the owner of the Honda.
All the women are employees at the Equity Group, formerly Cagle's Chicken Plant in Mitchell County. Police say Salters got into a fight with another woman at the Plant.
The argument continued on the Highway, when Smith and Salters finally forced Williams' Ford Explorer off the road. It flipped twice, killing Williams.
"The owner of the Honda Civic was standing through her sunroof of her vehicle, taunting the occupants of the Ford Explorer," said Lt. Reno. "When the Ford Explorer attempted to pass on the right, contact was made. Resulting in the Ford Explorer leaving the highway, losing control, overturning twice, ejecting the driver, resulting in her death."
Erica Williams was a single Mother, with a 3-year-old Daughter. Smith and Salters are being held in the Dougherty County Jail. They could face up to 15 years in prison for Vehicular Homicide.
A third woman has been charged with lying about the wreck.
posted at 3:30PM by dave.miller@walb.com
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