Dead in UGA football car crash: Driver speeding, report says

CNN
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According to a crash report from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, the SUV carrying four members of the University of Georgia football program, two of whom were killed, was going 40 mph before hitting a curb and leaving the road. published on Tuesday.

University of Georgia football player Devin Willock and staff member Chandler LeCroy were both killed in the crash.

According to the report, the Ford Expedition driven by LeCroy failed to negotiate a left curve, causing the vehicle to hit a curb with the front passenger tire and go off the road, striking a (Georgia) utility pole and another pole, clipping them inside. half.

After striking two poles, the vehicle struck a tree on the rear passenger side panel, causing it to spin clockwise, where it struck another tree on the driver’s side, the report continued.

Willock, who was sitting behind LeCroy on the driver’s side, was thrown from the vehicle when it landed on the corner of an apartment building, according to the crash report. Willock, 20, died at the scene and LeCroy, 24, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

26-year-old Victoria Bowles, who was sitting in the passenger’s back seat of the vehicle, suffered multiple injuries in the crash. The woman was transported to the hospital after the accident. The types of injuries have been redacted from a report released Tuesday that said he was not wearing a seat belt.

According to the report, 21-year-old Warren McClendon, who was traveling in the front seat, suffered a head injury in the crash. McClendon’s father told the Athens Banner-Herald that his son needed stitches but is doing well.

The report lists the first harmful event in the accident as hitting a curb and the most harmful event as hitting a tree. It doesn’t say how fast the vehicle was going.

According to the report, the driver was not tested for alcohol and drugs at the scene of the accident. The driver’s operating status was listed as unknown. CNN contacted the Athens-Clarke County Coroner to obtain the toxicology results of the LeCroys’ autopsy.

The crash happened early Sunday, just hours after the team celebrated its latest championship win.

Willock, a redshirt sophomore from New Milford, New Jersey, joined the team as a freshman in 2020 and played on the offensive line in all 15 of the team’s games this season. LeCroy was the team’s football recruiting analyst, according to his LinkedIn.

McClendon is an offensive lineman who started at right tackle at Georgia this season and announced at the NFL Draft earlier Saturday.

Bowles is also a member of the Georgia football staff.

The crash happened hours after Sanford Stadium and the surrounding streets were packed with ecstatic fans who had come to celebrate the Bulldogs’ second straight national championship. But by the next morning, they had joined the team in mourning the sudden loss of Willock and LeCroy.

Willocks’ aunt and uncle, Cicely and Norman Stout, said their nephew was well-liked and a good student.

He was very successful. “He was loved very much by all his peers and all the teachers and all the coaches,” Cicely Stout said. Devin is always smiling no matter what. Devin has a smile on his face and did very well in academics. He was very successful. He was a good, very good student, a very good person.

Unfortunately, a tragedy familiar to the family. Willocks’ older brother, Jonathan Wheatley, died in 2009 at age 20 from injuries sustained in a similar car accident, Cicely Stout said.

He’s gone, far too soon for us, Willocks’ uncle said.

University of Georgia Athletics has shared links on social media for people who want to support the families.

We have been overwhelmed and touched by the outpouring of love and support from the Willock and LeCroy families, officials tweeted. Many people have asked how to help.

Donate to the Willock family:

https://gofundme.com/f/remembering-devin-willock-uga-football

Donate to the LeCroy family:

https://gofundme.com/f/remembering-chandler-lecroy-uga-football

According to the police, the investigation of the accident is ongoing. Investigators have asked anyone with information to contact the authorities.

The crash happened behind the curved portion of Barnett Shoals Road. There is a sidewalk, but no barrier on the outer edge of the road.

Photos taken by nearby residents of the crash site show a wooden utility pole snapped in half and the SUV’s body crumpled against an apartment building in Shoals Creek, about two miles from the Georgia campus.

The car dented like a tin can, apartment complex resident Cecily Pangburn told CNN. He described hearing a loud bang upon impact and then losing his power.

Another resident, Jonathan DSouza, said he was the first person to respond to the crash scene. He told CNN he was watching TV when he felt the ground shake and heard a gunshot outside his apartment.

When DSouza went outside to see what was happening, she said it was pitch black because the power was out. It wasn’t until he saw sparks flying from power lines hanging in the middle of the street that he was able to see that the mangled SUV had crashed into his neighbor’s house, he said.

DSouza said he ran toward the SUV and saw Willock lying face down next to the vehicle. DSouza said she began yelling at the unresponsive Willock, asking if he was OK.

It was the most helpless feeling because you wish you could save him, but you know he’s already gone, DSouza said.