Jamell Dent was a low-key, mild-mannered police officer, a six-year veteran with DeKalb County before his December move to the city of Lithonia.
Dent was also "a motorcycle kind of guy," Lithonia Police Chief Roosevelt Smith said — making his death, and that of an infant in the vehicle he collided with Saturday, all the more tragic.
“He loved his bike,” Smith said.
According to a DeKalb County police incident report, Dent, 26, was driving his personal BMW motorcycle south on Rock Chapel Road at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday when he crashed into the right rear door of a Honda Accord. Authorities believe the the Accord had been traveling north on Rock Chapel Road but was attempting to make a U-turn at Stephenson Road.
The Accord flipped in the crash and pinned Dent underneath, killing him.
An infant in the Accord, identified Monday as Melony Flood, was pronounced dead after being transported to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. The child’s father, a 22-year-old Lithonia resident, was taken to the hospital with “visible injuries to his right arm and a deep laceration under his right eye,” the incident report said.
The child’s mother, also 22, was driving the Accord. She reportedly told police that she hadn’t seen Dent’s motorcycle approaching.
Dent was not married and had no children, Smith said. He was off-duty during the crash.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
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