Two Atlanta children were killed over the weekend when the car their mother was driving ended up in the path of two cars that were possibly drag racing, DeKalb County police said.
Lauren Coleman, 3, and Jordan Coleman, 4, died Sunday night when their mother’s Sebring got in the way of two cars barreling southbound on Moreland Avenue about 11 p.m., said Mekka Parish, spokeswoman for DeKalb police.
Cazhara Lovett, 30, was turning west on to Constitution Road. A Monte Carlo and a Lexus topped a hill side-by-side in the southbound lanes and slammed into Lovett’s car, according to a police drawing.
Police concluded the 2004 Monte Carlo hit the Sebring’s passenger side, propelling it into the 2001 GS300 Lexus and ejecting one of the three children out of the car and over the guard rail. Another child was also killed.
Lovett and 6-year-old Jaylen Coleman were hospitalized. Lovett’s injuries were not life-threatening, and the child was in stable condition Monday, Parish said.
Police charged Monte Carlo driver James G. Benford, 42, and Lexus driver Melanie Putnam, 27, with vehicular homicide and reckless driving. Excessive speed was listed as a contributing factor, according to the police report.
DeKalb jail records show that Benford, of Lithonia, was booked into the jail just before noon Monday. Putnam, of Fayetteville, has not been booked into the jail, according to the online records.
Benford told police he observed the Sebring in the intersection as he approached. Putnam told police that the traffic light was green when she was approaching the intersection and said the Sebring then turned into her path, according to the police report.
Channel 2 Action News reported that police believe the Monte Carlo and Lexus may have been involved in a street race. Parish said that possibility was still being investigated late Monday morning, but had not been confirmed.
Commentators on East Atlanta Buzz, a social media site, said racing on Moreland Avenue was an issue last summer.
“The first thing I thought of when I heard this story on the news,” said one commentator Monday. “Such a tragedy for this family.”
Atlanta police, who are responsible for the west side of Moreland Avenue, said they had no reports of racing on that section of the road. DeKalb police, who are responsible for much of the east side, had no comment.
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