A former Georgia state trooper who was involved in a crash that killed two Paulding County teenage girls nearly five months ago won't face charges, officials said.
After more than 30 minutes of deliberation, a Carroll County grand jury on Wednesday declined to charge ex-Georgia State Patrol Trooper Anthony James Scott in the the Sept. 26 accident that killed Kylie Hope Lindsey, 17, and Isabella Alise Chinchilla, 16, both students at South Paulding High School, the Office of Carroll County District Attorney Pete Skandalakis said.
Scott sideswiped the teens’ car near Bremen in Carroll County about 11:35 p.m. while traveling north on U.S. 27 in a 2014 Dodge Charger patrol car.
A 2005 Nissan Sentra with Lindsey, Chinchilla and two other teenagers inside attempted a left turn onto Holly Springs Road when Scott struck the right side of the Nissan, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
The impact from the crash forced both vehicles off the road.
Lindsey and Chinchilla, who were in the backseat, died at the scene of the crash. Their funerals were held hours apart.
The two others — Dillon Lewis Wall, 18, who was driving the Nissan, and Benjamin Alan Finken, 17, both of Douglasville — were injured and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Police said alcohol was not a factor and preliminary findings showed the Nissan failed to yield when it turned into the path of the patrol car. Additional investigation revealed Scott’s excessive speed was also a contributing factor in the fatal wreck.
On Oct. 2, Scott was fired after that investigation determined he was driving 91 miles per hour five seconds before the fatal crash. He had slowed to 68 mph when he struck the Nissan, investigators said. The posted speed limit in the area is 55 mph.
“At the time of the wreck, he was on no kind of emergency call, en route to no accident, not trying to stop a vehicle,” GSP spokesman Capt. Mark Perry previously told Channel 2 Action News. “Turns out he was running at a high rate of speed through this intersection in a territory that’s he’s familiar with and should have known the dangers that potentially exist.”
Scott had been reprimanded twice before for minor wrecks, resulting in a verbal warning and written letter, Perry said.
In November, Scott was elected to the Buchanan City Council and the mayor of the small Haralson County city appointed Scott, the top vote-getter with 72 votes, to immediately fill a current vacancy on the council, Channel 2 Action News previously reported.
The District Attorney’s office notified the victims’ families of the grand jury’s decisions.
“I did call them after we got the word back and they are understandably upset,” Skandalakis said.
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