On Sept. 1, 2016, 58-year-old Annie Cole was waiting for a MARTA bus in Atlanta when a Honda Civic jumped a curb and hit her. The driver, a Stone Mountain woman, got out and ran to Cole, hysterically praying over the dying woman.
A year later, Cole’s family has filed suit blaming the death on the driver, Chaltu Ahmed, and the city of Atlanta. The suit claims Ahmed was driving negligently and that the city knew the intersection of Pryor Road and Amal Drive, near Lakewood Amphitheatre, was dangerous but didn’t fix it.
Efforts to reach Ahmed, who has pending charges of misdemeanor homicide by vehicle and failure to obey traffic devices, weren’t successful Monday. A city spokeswoman said officials hadn’t been served with the suit and couldn’t comment.
Months before the wreck that killed Cole, police said a 21-year-old pregnant woman was struck and killed after a pickup truck ran a stop sign and hit her at a bus stop. She was headed to get her cap and gown to graduate from nursing school.
The lawsuit says there have been 70 accidents at the intersection, which is near several bus stops and an apartment complex, since 2010.
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“Because the intersection is not visible to oncoming traffic and defects exist on the roadway and on the sidewalk, many collisions and incidents have occurred,” the suit, filed in DeKalb County State Court, says. “Residents of the apartment building adjacent to the hazardous intersection complained to the city on numerous occasions.”
The suit also suggests Ahmed had visibility issues.
“Ahmed apparently did not notice the stop sign at the four-way stop, and drove through the intersection without stopping,” it says.
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