A man is dead and a 2-year-old boy was taken to the hospital after they were involved in a crash with a Clayton County police officer on Ga. 85 early Friday morning, officials said.
The officer was also taken to the hospital, the Georgia State Patrol said, but he was able to share his account of the crash with troopers at the scene.
Officials identified the driver killed as 21-year-old Kelvontae Zikel Banks of Atlanta. The child, who was sitting in the back seat, has not been identified and the GSP did not share details about the relationship between him and Banks.
The crash took place just before 1 a.m. in Riverdale as the officer was responding to a call for service, according to the GSP. The officer was driving north on Ga. 85 but did not have his emergency lights or siren activated, while Banks’ Ford Fiesta was facing south in the highway’s center turn lane.
According to Clayton police, an officer was investigating multiple reports of cars being broken into at a bar near College Park. That officer requested assistance, and Officer Cameron Pack was on his way to help when he was involved in the fatal crash, a department spokeswoman said.
Banks tried to turn left into a KFC at the intersection of Roberts Drive and went into the path of the patrol car, the GSP said. Pack told troopers that he tried to avoid the crash, but his car hit the Fiesta’s passenger side, spinning the small car around while his cruiser was forced off the road.
Banks was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died, the GSP said. The officer was also taken to Grady, but authorities did not provide further information on his condition. The 2-year-old was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston Hospital and his injury status was not shared.
The crash remains under investigation by the GSP with help from the state agency’s specialized collision reconstruction team.
Pack, who has worked for Clayton County for just over 10 months, was placed on administrative leave. According to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, Pack joined the agency in December 2021 and graduated from the department’s police academy in March.
— Data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
About the Author
