A Carroll County grand jury on Thursday indicted a former Georgia state trooper accused of causing a crash that killed two teenagers nearly two years ago.
Anthony “A.J.” Scott was indicted in Carroll County on two counts of vehicular homicide in the second degree, two counts of serious injury by vehicle, violating oath of office and one count each of speeding and reckless driving, District Attorney Pete Skandalakis told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The crash, which killed Kylie Hope Lindsey, 17, and Isabella Alise Chinchilla, 16, happened on Sept. 26, 2015, on U.S. 27. Both girls attended South Paulding High School.
“This win will not bring back our beautiful girls but it will make a statement that there are consequences to our actions,” Kylie’s mother, Kellie Lindsey, wrote in a Facebook post.
Scott was northbound on U.S. 27 and had been driving 91 mph five seconds before colliding with a Nissan carrying the teenagers, investigators later determined. He had slowed to 68 mph when he struck the 2005 Nissan Sentra as its driver attempted a left turn onto Holly Springs Road. The posted speed limit in the area is 55 mph.
Kylie and Isabella were in the Nissan’s back seat and died from their injuries. Dillon Lewis Wall, then 18, who was driving the Nissan, and front-seat passenger Benjamin Alan Finken, 17 at the time, were critically injured in the crash. Both are from Douglasville.
Scott, who was fired from the state patrol, was not on an emergency call and was not trying to stop a vehicle before the crash, Capt. Mark Perry the Georgia Department of Public Safety has said. Less than two months after the crash, he ran for and won a spot on the Buchanan City Council, a position he still holds.
In February 2016, the case was presented to a grand jury, which declined to indict Scott. Scott was the final witness before the grand jury due to a Georgia law that granted him that privilege as a law enforcement officer, Skandalakis previously said. Family and friends of the teenagers held a rally outside the Carroll courthouse to decry the grand jury’s decision.
Then in November 2016, the case was re-presented to a different grand jury, which indicted Scott on misdemeanor charges of speeding and reckless driving. However, a judge later threw out the indictment, which the DA’s office has appealed.
“We have an extremely long road ahead of us still, so please continue to pray for all of our families,” Kellie Strickland posted online.
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