Bond denied for suspect who hit and killed Atlanta officer

By Mike Morris and Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Stone Mountain woman accused of being drunk when her car slammed into and killed an Atlanta police officer has been cited six times for traffic violations in five years, the Fulton County District Attorney's office said Thursday.

Chasity Nicole Jones, 22, will remain in the Fulton County jail for at least the next two weeks after a Fulton County magistrate judge refused to grant bond at a court appearance Thursday morning. Jones was charged with felony first-degree vehicular homicide as well as two misdemeanors, driving under the influence and failure to yield to person authorized to direct traffic following the death of Senior Officer Gail Thomas.

Jones was in a jail courtroom Thursday, where Fulton Magistrate Judge Jessy Lall set bond at $15,000 on the two misdemeanors, but refused to allow bond on the vehicular homicide charge.

Jones said nothing during the hearing, but repeatedly turned her head to look at her mother, who sat in the back of the small courtroom. A cousin of the Atlanta police officer killed in Tuesday night's crash was also in the courtroom.

Lall scheduled a preliminary hearing for Jones for Feb. 9 in Fulton Superior Court, at which time her lawyers can ask a Superior Court judge to set bond.

This was the first arrest for Jones, but she has been cited six times for traffic offenses, including four times for speeding, a member of the DA's office told the judge Thursday. Jones has also been cited twice for making erratic lane changes and twice didn't show up for court appearances, according to the DA's office.

In Nov. 2008, Jones was cited in Gwinnett County for causing a one-vehicle wreck on Five Forks Trickum Road, Cpl. Jake Smith with Gwinnett police told the AJC.

In the recent incident, investigators said Jones struck and killed Thomas shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday on the Brookwood Interchange ramp from I-75 southbound to I-85 northbound.

Thomas, a 20-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department, had responded to that location to assist another officer who was investigating an earlier wreck. Thomas was hit by Jones as she got out of her patrol car, police said.

Thomas, 46, died at the scene. She was the second female APD officer killed in the line of duty, police said.

Police said Wednesday that Jones registered a .16 on a breath test administered at the scene of the crash – twice the .08 level considered to be too impaired to drive.

Jones refused to consent to a blood alcohol test, police said, but investigators secured a search warrant and later took a blood sample from the suspect at Grady Memorial Hospital. The results of the blood test have not been released.

Three passengers were in the vehicle with Jones, but none were cited, police said Thursday.

- Staff photographer John Spink contributed to this article.