The Texas man who caused a wreck that killed him and his baby's mother was driving intoxicated at the time, Cherokee County authorities said Monday.
Rick Dean Headen, 48, had a blood alcohol level of .218, slightly less than three times the legal limit in Georgia, at the time of the Feb. 5 wreck, Lt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said.
Headen, 48, and Charlotte Ann Sedtal, 40, died in the crash on Knox Bridge Highway shortly after 11 a.m. The couple's then-2-month-old baby, Dakota, sustained a broken leg and head injury in the crash but is expected to make a full recovery. Dakota spent several days recovering at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.
Headen, who had a suspended license, was driving a Ford Focus that crossed the center line and hit a pickup truck head-on, Baker said. Two people in the truck were taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
"My sister had called my mama about 30 to 45 minutes before the wreck," Sedtal's brother, Jimmy Sedtal, previously told the AJC. "She told my mama, ‘I just called to say I love you.'”
The next phone call, Jimmy Sedtal said, would be from police to inform the family about the wreck.
The parents and child had traveled to Georgia from their home in Sour Lake, Texas, about 20 miles west of Beaumont. After spending Saturday night in Cartersville, the three were driving near Canton at the time of the crash, Jimmy Sedtal said.
Blood testing was conducted on Headen at the time of the crash and sent to the GBI Crime Lab for analysis, Baker said. Investigators previously said beer cans were found inside the Ford. Speed was not believed to have been a factor.
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