A Forsyth County man has been charged with vehicular homicide and hit-and-run after a weekend crash killed 26-year-old Anthony McPherson, of Buford.
Michael Robert Branigan, of Cumming, has been charged with vehicular homicide, hit and run-failure to stop and render aid, and following too closely.
An accident report from the Lawrenceville Police Department does not detail what happened when a car driven by Branigan allegedly collided with the car McPherson was riding in. The crash happened at the intersection of Ga. 316 and Duluth Highway in Lawrenceville at 5:44 a.m. July 9.
A friend was driving McPherson home Sunday morning when their car was hit from behind by another vehicle, said Brandon Woods, a friend of McPherson’s. Woods said he knew the details of the accident because the victim who survived discussed it with him.
The car McPherson was in flipped multiple times, landing in a ditch, Woods said. The driver survived but McPherson was pronounced dead at the scene, Woods said.
After the crash, the driver of the other car attempted to drive off, but the car wasn’t working, Woods said. The driver then ran away.
“My friend was the kindest person in the world, and instead of stopping and checking and seeing if he was OK, they ran away like he was an animal,” Woods said.
Branigan turned himself in to Lawrenceville police later that day. He was booked into jail at 4 p.m., more than 10 hours after the accident. He was released on $25,900 bond.
Credit: Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office
McPherson was a technician at the Mall of Georgia Mazda dealership in Buford and had graduated from Gwinnett Technical College in 2013, Woods said. McPherson was known by friends as a generous person who had repeatedly allowed people to stay in his home when they had nowhere else to go.
“He would give his shirt off his back to anyone. He would take people in when their family wouldn’t,” Woods said. “God couldn’t have taken away any more of a wrong person.”
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