A driver accused of fleeing a traffic stop and causing a deadly crash at a Midtown intersection is facing several charges, including two counts of vehicular homicide, Atlanta police said Friday.
Bernard Yarbrough, 22, was arrested at the scene, according to police. His name and charges were released Friday and also include eluding police, reckless driving and a headlight violation, authorities said.
Court records show it wasn’t the first time Yarbrough tried to run from metro Atlanta officers.
Thursday’s crash happened about 2:30 a.m. at Northside Drive and 14th Street after Yarbrough, driving a Toyota RAV4, fled from an Atlanta officer, according to the Georgia State Patrol. The officer tried to initiate a traffic a few blocks north at 17th Street.
Yarbrough put his turn signal on to indicate he was pulling over, according to police. But instead, he continued on, running a red light and crashing into a Mitsubishi SUV, according to police. Two people inside the Mitsubishi were killed.
The crash killed the Uber vehicle’s driver, 39-year-old Guillermo Bracho Barrios, and the front-seat passenger, 27-year-old Gemini Jerome Jackson, according to police. Three back-seat passengers were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, investigators said. No information was released on their conditions.
Jackson, an Atlanta native, worked as an engineer in Texas but was home for a few days on business and to celebrate his mother’s birthday, Channel 2 Action News reported. He played baseball at Tuskegee University.
Yarbrough was also injured in the crash and taken to Grady. He had not been booked into the Fulton jail as of Friday afternoon.
The crash remains under investigation.
According to court records, Yarbrough had two arrests in Cobb County in the past 13 months involving attempts to get away from officers.
On Jan. 19, he was arrested after he allegedly accelerated to 75 mph in a 45-mph zone while trying to avoid officers on Delk Road, his arrest warrant states.
“After several marked Cobb County police vehicles activated their emergency equipment to initiate a traffic stop on the vehicle which said accused was driving, said accused failed to stop for officers and accelerated to 75 mph in a 45 mph zone before officers utilized the PIT maneuver to disable said accused’s vehicle,” his arrest warrant states.
Yarbrough was charged with driving with an expired license, driving with an expired tag, attempting to elude, reckless driving and theft by receiving a firearm, his warrant states. He was released from jail after posting $7,500 bond.
In September 2021, Yarbrough was arrested by Marietta officers and accused of speeding.
“Said accused did then drive at a high rate of speed through 2560 Delk Road, Stratford Ridge apartments,” the warrant states. “While speeding through the parking lot said accused did pass multiple people walking in the parking lot area of the complex, placing those people in immediate danger.”
He was released on $3,500 bond following that arrest.
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