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Family searching for answers after crash killed father, injured toddler
One person is dead and two others hospitalized following an officer involved crash in Riverdale overnight. A Clayton County police officer was responding to a call when his patrol car collided with another vehicle on Georgia Highway 85 near Roberts Drive early Friday.
CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - One man is dead, and a toddler has been rushed to the hospital after a crash involving a Clayton County police officer Friday morning.
Officials tell FOX 5 the deadly wreck happened around 5 a.m. on the 6800 block of Georgia Highway 85 near Roberts Drive.
According to Georgia State Patrol, the officer was heading north on the road while responding to a call with his emergency equipment activated.
Further down the road, a driver in a blue Ford Fiesta was trying to turn left into a nearby KFC. Police say the officer tried to avoid hitting the Ford, but crashed into its passenger side. The officer then lost control of his vehicle, which ended up falling into a nearby parking lot and hitting the side of a building.
The officer, identified as 24-year-old Cameron Pack, has been taken to Grady Memorial hospital with unknown injuries.
Medics rushed the driver of the Ford, identified as 21-year-old Kelvontae Zikel Banks, to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died from his injuries. A 2-year-old boy in the backseat of the Ford has been transported to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. His condition is not known at this time.
The highway was closed while Georgia State Patrol troopers investigated the crash.
Devastated family members returned to the scene of Friday's deadly crash searching for answers.
" I still don't understand. Feel like I'm in a dream," one loved one said.
They watched as the Georgia State Patrol Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team worked nearby, gathering evidence in the case that left one man dead that man's toddler and a Clayton County Police Officer hospitalized.
Banks' father told FOX 5 his son was pulling into the KFC restaurant to pick up his girlfriend when the cars collided. He said she witnessed the crash.
"She stood up at the door and watched my son get hit, she watched my son get killed," the man said.
Banks' father believes his son's death could have been prevented.
"You are taking a chance with your own life which you didn't make it to that call either and my son isn't here right now," he said.