A Douglas County woman had just received a text message and was talking on her cell phone when she allegedly caused a crash that killed a popular youth basketball coach, Cobb County police said.
Danielle Kuulei Garcia, 26, was charged with second-degree homicide by vehicle, following too closely, driving with an expired license and distracted driving for the March 10 wreck on C.H. James Parkway near Austell, according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A one-month investigation by Cobb County police resulted in an arrest warrant issued Friday for Garcia, who was driving a Mazda pickup truck at the time of the crash. Monday morning, Garcia surrendered and was booked into the Cobb jail, where she was being held on $50,000 Tuesday afternoon.
Katrina M. Cook, 36, of Hiram, died at the scene of the fiery wreck, which involved several vehicles.
Police previously said Garcia was attempting to change lanes and pass a Toyota Tundra truck when she hit the other truck, causing the other driver to lose control of the vehicle. The impact caused the Toyota's driver, Bobby Banks, 61, of Powder Springs, to collide head-on with a white 2005 Infiniti G35 that was northbound on C.H. James Parkway, according to Sgt. Dana Pierce.
"After being struck by the Toyota, the Infiniti entered the path of a white 2012 Freightliner tractor-trailer which was also traveling north on C.H. James Parkway," Pierce previously said. "The Infiniti caught fire after it was struck in the rear by the Freightliner tractor-trailer."
Cook, the driver of the Infiniti, died at the scene, Pierce said. The driver of the tractor-trailer, 28-year-old Alhassane Dansoko of Decatur, did not require medical treatment. Garcia also did not require treatment. Banks was taken to Atlanta Medical Center with serious, but non-life threatening injuries.
According to her arrest warrant, Garcia had received a text message on her cell phone moments before the crash, but she deleted it before allowing police to see her phone.
"Accused also received multiple phone calls and placed a phone call at the time of the collision," the arrest warrant states.
Cook, who was killed in the crash, had been working with the Powder Springs Youth Basketball League for a year, but had taken over the girl's program, and league President Wade Douglas told Channel 2 Action News one of her teams won a county title.
"It's unfortunate that something like a phone call or text message or something couldn't wait, you know, and could eventually change the life of not only her and her family, but I'm sure the driver and anyone else impacted in the collision," Douglas said Monday.
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