Driver accused of striking down 2 construction workers in Marietta facing charges
Marietta Police are searching for the driver in a hit-and-run accident that sent two pedestrian construction workers to the hospital with life-threatening injuries early Sunday morning. (FOX 5 Atlanta)
MARIETTA, Ga. - Police have arrested a driver accused of plowing down two construction workers and leaving them in critical condition on a Marietta road over the weekend.
Officials say early Sunday morning, 38-year-old Jimmy Varraza and 28-year-old Oscar Aguilar were setting up a traffic board on Roswell Road under the Interstate 75 overpass.
While they were working, police say a gray 2019 Volkswagen Jetta traveling eastbound failed to yield to the lane closure, plowed right through the board, and hit both of the construction workers.
"When a giant sign is placed in the roadway with an arrow and you physically take out the two workers behind it, certainly there were things at play that took that individual's attention off of where it should’ve been - which is on the road," Officer McPhilamy told FOX 5 the day after the crash.
According to investigators, the driver, identified as 23-year-old Malik Branch of Dallas, Georgia, then left his vehicle and fled on foot before first responders could arrive.
Malik Branch (Marietta Police Department)
After days of investigating the case, police say they determined Branch was the driver in the crash and took him into custody Tuesday night.
Branch is now charged with two counts of felony serious injury by vehicle, two counts of felony hit-and-run, DUI, failure to maintain lane, driving with a suspended license and registration, driving with no insurance, driving without wearing a seatbelt, and improper equipment.
He's currently in custody at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
As of Wednesday morning, officials say Aguilar has recovered from his injuries and has been released from the hospital, Varraza remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Anyone with any information on this incident is encouraged to reach out to the Marietta Police Department at 770-794-5364.