The three-day Labor Day holiday weekend was a deadly one on Georgia roads, where 21 were killed in crashes, according to investigators. Two others drowned in state lakes.
The traffic fatalities exceeded those from Labor Day weekends at least since 2015, according to state records.
Crashes killed five teenagers, including three students from one metro Atlanta high school, and two Morehouse College students on Monday. Two people also drowned, including a 23-year-old man at Lake Lanier.
In Gwinnett County, five teenagers died in a single crash when their pickup truck went over the wall of a ramp and landed on I-85, according to police. Witnesses called 911 shortly before 4 a.m. Monday to report the crash, which temporarily closed the interstate.
Those killed in the crash were identified late Monday as Katie Gaitan, 17, Ashley Gaitan, 16, and Coral Lorenzo-Rosario, 17, all from Atlanta, and Hung Nguyen, 18, from Lawrenceville, and Abner Santana, 19, of Suwanee. Three of those killed attended Lakeside High School in DeKalb County, police said.
The crash remained under investigation Tuesday.
Later Monday, two Morehouse College students were killed in a crash in East Point, the Georgia State Patrol said. Investigators believe speed was a factor in the single-vehicle crash.
The two Morehouse students were traveling fast, going south on Church Street in East Point, the state patrol said. After passing another car in a curve, their vehicle left the roadway, hit two power poles and overturned near the intersection with Linwood Avenue. Both Hugh Douglas and Christion Files Jr. died at the scene.
Douglas and Files were both studying business administration at Morehouse. Douglas interned at a company this summer in Los Angeles. Files, who was interested in photography and videography, created content for the college. The students were roommates during their sophomore year.
“They leave a legacy of excellence, passion, and dedication that will continue to inspire us all,” Kevin Booker, a Morehouse vice president, said in a statement.
Investigators also believe speed was a factor in a deadly crash on the Downtown Connector late Friday. The driver lost control of the vehicle and left the roadway, striking a concrete median and metal guard rail before overturning, according to Atlanta police.
Metro Atlanta’s crash fatality rate placed 16th in the nation, compared with other metro areas with 1 million or more people, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fatal crash data and U.S. Census Bureau population statistics for 2021, the latest year for which national crash data are available. People die more often on metro Atlanta roadways than they do driving in areas such as metro Los Angeles, Minneapolis or Raleigh. Atlanta’s rate was lower than many other major southern cities, including Memphis, which topped the list with a fatality rate twice that of the national average, the AJC analysis found.
State patrol troopers around Georgia also investigated fatal crashes over the Labor Day weekend, including from posts in Athens, Cumming, Grovetown, Toccoa, Milledgeville, Blue Ridge and Dublin.
Two drownings were reported over the weekend. Victims included a 16-year-old Augusta boy who was with several family members, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
At around 2 p.m. Monday, witnesses called 911 to report a possible drowning on Clarks Hill Lake in Columbia County, the DNR said. Several family members were wading out on a sandbar when one female began yelling for help.
“A bystander was able to pull the female and her boyfriend out of the water and bring them to shore,” DNR spokesman Mark McKinnon said in an emailed statement. “The mother of the teenage male began yelling that her son was still out there.”
Just before 3:30 p.m., Se’Vonn Small was located in about 12 feet of water, McKinnon said.
Small attended the Academy of Richmond County, where he played football, according to a Facebook post from the booster club.
“ARC family, we are heartbroken by the passing of sophomore student and football player #43 Se’Vonn Small,” the post said. “He will be missed incredibly in the classroom, the community and the football field. Please keep his family, friends, and teammates in your prayers.”
On Saturday night, a 23-year-old Gwinnett County man drowned at Lake Lanier’s Holiday Marina, according to the DNR.
Game wardens responded around 10 p.m. to a drowning call after Gavrie Alexander Whitlock, of Snellville, slipped on a dock and fell into the water, the DNR said. Whitlock’s body was found in about 17 feet of water.
— Staff writer Ty Tagami contributed to this report.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND DEATHS
A look at the number of people killed on Georgia roads during the Labor Day weekend in recent years
2023: 21
2022: 15
2021: 14
2020: 19
2019: 10
2018: 18
2017: 9
2016: 13
2015: 14
Source: Georgia Department of Public Safety
