A Cobb County man has been arrested and faces multiple felony charges after police say he left the scene of a six-car crash that left one man dead.
Rony Perez-Lucas, 23, of Marietta, was arrested Sunday and charged with vehicular homicide, felony hit-and-run and failure to maintain lane, according to Cobb police spokeswoman Officer Shenise Barner.
Perez-Lucas is accused of crashing his pickup on I-285 and leaving the scene with his truck still in the road, Barner said. In the ensuing wreck, one man died and three other people were taken to the hospital with injuries.
According to the initial investigation, Perez-Lucas was driving his maroon 2002 Toyota Tundra on I-285 east just past Powers Ferry Road at about 2:25 a.m. when he hit the concrete center median. The Tundra came to a stop back on the highway and was then hit by two cars, Barner said. The first, a 2018 Hyundai Sonata, was sent into the center barrier where it came to a stop. The second, a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado, hit the Tundra and both trucks came to rest in travel lanes, Barner said.
Three more cars ran into the disabled vehicles, but the sequence was not clear, according to Cobb police. A 2012 Audi A5, 2020 Chrysler Pacifica and 2010 Nissan Maxima were involved in the crash but came to controlled stops on either side of the highway, Barner said.
The driver of the Silverado, 32-year-old Desmond Graham of Columbus, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The driver of the Sonata was taken to Wellstar Atlanta Medical Hospital, and his female passenger was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, both with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the A5 was also taken to Kennestone with non-life-threatening injuries, Barner said.
The drivers of Pacifica and Maxima were not injured.
Perez-Lucas was taken into custody later in the day and booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he remains without bond, online jail records show.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact investigators at 770-499-3987.
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