A deer is being blamed for a fiery head-on collision Wednesday night in Gwinnett County that left an 11-year-old boy dead and several other people seriously injured.
The crash happened shortly after 10 p.m. in the 1100 block of Buford Highway in Buford.
Gwinnett County police Cpl. Michele Pihera said the deer emerged from the right side of the roadway, into the path of a southbound Subaru Legacy.
The Subaru hit the deer, then swerved into the northbound lane, colliding head-on with a northbound Honda Accord.
The Honda caught fire after the impact, Pihera said.
Eleven-year-old Andrew Caymol, the front seat passenger in the Honda, died at the scene.
The Honda driver, 47-year-old Mateo Caymol of Suwanee, and a second passenger in the Honda, 13-year-old Matthew Caymol, were seriously injured, as was the Subaru driver, Yagi Fumio, 28, of Suwanee. All were taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Pihera said.
She said no charges have been filed against either driver.
It’s currently “rutting” or breeding season for deer in Georgia. Through January, deer will become more active than any other time of year, meaning they’re more likely to wander onto roads and be struck be a vehicle, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
In Georgia, drivers have a 1 in 128 chance of hitting a deer, according to a study conducted by insurer State Farm. Gwinnett led the metro area in the number of deer-vehicle collisions, with 1,082 reported from 2012 through August 2014, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
— Staff writer Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.
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