A Greenville, S.C., truck driver is facing a second-degree vehicular manslaughter charge in a horrific, fatal accident earlier this month on I-85 in Gwinnett County.

Thomas Caldwell, 67, also was charged with making an unsafe lane change in the July 8 accident, Gwinnett police said Friday.

Caldwell’s tractor-trailer was traveling south on I-85 near Steve Reynolds Boulevard when he changed lanes, forcing a Nissan Pathfinder, carrying four family members, out of its lane and into another truck, police said.

The Pathfinder left the road, struck a steep hill between I-85 and the Steve Reynolds ramp and flipped over several times before coming to rest on the ramp, investigators said.

A front-seat passenger, Rabia Adnan, 32, of Duluth, was thrown from the Nissan and later died. Her two children, ages 7 and 4, were taken to the hospital but later released to their father, who was the driver.

Caldwell did not stop, but police did not charge him with hit-and-run, police said.

A police spokesman said Friday that, while investigators concluded that Caldwell caused the accident by making an unsafe lane change, they found no evidence that his tractor-trailer struck the Nissan Pathfinder.

Caldwell turned himself in Thursday and has been released on bond.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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