Dead in UGA football car crash: Use of vehicle was ‘unauthorized’

CNN
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According to a statement from the University of Georgia Athletic Association, the use of the vehicle that was destroyed while carrying four members of the University of Georgia football program, two of whom were killed in the crash, was unauthorized.

The Ford Expedition was one of several cars leased by the Athletic Department for use only in recruiting activities, and personal use was strictly prohibited, according to the statement.

Well-understood practices and expectations of the athletics staff required that such rental vehicles were to be turned in immediately upon completion of recruiting duties, the statement read. Our staff continuing to use the rental car after the end of the recruitment tasks earlier that evening was unauthorized.

Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy were killed in the crash. Willock, a redshirt sophomore from New Milford, New Jersey, played on the offensive line in all 15 of the team’s games this past season. LeCroy was the team’s football recruiting analyst, according to his LinkedIn.

The crash happened early on Jan. 15, just hours after the team celebrated its most recent national championship victory.

CNN previously reported that LeCroy, 24, was driving with Willock, 20, and two other passengers near the UGA campus in Athens shortly before 3 a.m. when the vehicle veered off the road and struck two utility poles and several trees. The Clarke County Police Department said in a news release.

Willock was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene, and LeCroy died after being taken to a hospital, police said.

We continue to cooperate fully with the researchers. Above all, our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends we lost and those injured in this tragic accident, the statement read.

According to a crash report released Tuesday by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, the vehicle was traveling 40 mph before hitting a curb and leaving the road.

Two other people in the vehicle, a football player and a member of the football staff, were injured.