The man accused of causing the Cobb County crash that killed a popular author had a blood-alcohol level of .192, more than twice the legal limit, according to his arrest warrant released Friday.
Jeffrey Robert Fettig, 45, of Marietta, surrendered Thursday night and was booked into the Cobb jail, where he was being held Friday morning on no bond. Fettig was charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, DUI, reckless driving, failure to maintain lane, and driving on the wrong side of the road in connection to the Feb. 28 crash, according to police.
Fettig was driving a black Acura MDX on Paper Mill Road when he struck the driver side of Thomas J. Stanley’s 2012 Chevrolet Corvette, Cobb police said. Stanley, 71, died from his injuries.
Stanley is the author of the “Millionaire Next Door” series of books, based on his theories that self-made millionaires were more likely to be frugal rather than flashy with cash.
Investigators suspected Fettig had been drinking at the time of the crash, his arrest warrant states.
“Accused did have the strong odor of alcoholic beverage about his person, glossy eyes, slurred speech, and admission of consuming alcoholic beverages prior to operating the vehicle,” the warrant states.
Fettig agreed to blood and urine testing and was treated at WellStar Kennestone for non-life threatening injuries, according to police. Fettig’s test samples were sent to the GBI crime lab, which determined his blood alcohol level was .192, police said. The legal limit for driving in Georgia is .08.
Before writing his book series, Stanley was a marketing professor at Georgia State University, a public speaker and consultant on selling to the rich. Before his 1996 breakout hit “The Millionaire Next Door,” his theories were gaining publicity, and he and his wife, Janet, figured the book, his fourth, would do well. “We had no idea,” she said.
The book got him on Oprah. It and a sequel “The Millionaire Mind” spent a collective 170-plus weeks on The New York Times’ best-seller list.
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