A Lawrenceville man is facing vehicular homicide and other charges stemming from a fatal Saturday night wreck in which he allegedly drove through a grassy median trying to pass slower traffic.

Gwinnett County police said Monday that the wreck happened just after 7 p.m. Saturday as Everard Nelson, 52, was southbound on Lawrenceville Suwanee Road near Woodland Park Terrace, fleeing the scene of an earlier minor accident.

Nelson “was traveling at a high rate of speed and attempted to pass slower southbound traffic in the grass median,” a police spokesman said in an e-mail, adding that Nelson “lost control and crossed into the northbound traffic” and struck another vehicle driven by 35-year-old Alandis Spells of Decatur.

Spells died at the scene, and Nelson was injured and transported to a local hospital.

Police said that when he is discharged from the hospital, Nelson will be charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, reckless driving, making an improper/unsafe lane change and driving on the wrong side of the road.

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