While her daughter and grandson watched helplessly, a Douglasville woman was hit by a pickup truck that then backed up and ran over the woman, seemingly on purpose, according to the woman’s family.
On Friday, a Douglas County grand jury indicted the 23-year-old Alabama man accused of killing Janice Pitts on murder charges, according to an indictment obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dewey Calhoun Green, 23, was indicted on one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder and three counts of aggravated assault.
Pitts, 53, had gotten out of of her SUV after being hit from behind while taking her daughter to work on June 25, her family said. Pitts’ 4-year-old grandson was in the backseat.
“She was just concerned about her grandbaby,” her daughter, Iesha Davis, said Monday.
Green allegedly pinned Pitts between his Chevrolet Silverado and her Lincoln Navigator, witnesses told authorities. Then, he put the truck in reverse and drove forward and over Pitts, despite pleas for him to stop, Davis said.
“He literally ran my mother’s head over,” Davis said.
Green left the scene of the wreck and drove a short distance up an embankment until his truck came to a stop, according to Alabama media reports. Witnesses grabbed his keys and detained him until police arrived. Green was arrested and booked into the Douglas County jail, where he remained Monday afternoon without bond.
Investigators initially suspected Green may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash. But he has not been charged with DUI. Green’s lawyer has said his client’s cellphone was illegally confiscated.
"His family members and other phone contacts – which data the police illegally seized and have now used to support their criminal case – could have only come from illegally tapping or hacking into (Green's) cell phone," Atlanta-area attorney William C. Head wrote in one of several court motions filed on Green's behalf.
Green, of Pelham, Ala., is the grandson of former Birmingham Mayor W. Cooper Green, according to the Birmingham News. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 7.
At the time of her death, Pitts was engaged, Davis said.
“It’s a devastating nightmare,” she said. “We wake up every day and it starts all over again.”
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