Driver charged with DUI after head-on crash in Gainesville injured 3

A North Georgia driver faces a DUI charge after a head-on crash that left three people injured, authorities said.

Just before 6:30 p.m. Monday, police were called to a two-vehicle crash in the southbound lanes of Thompson Bridge Road, Gainesville police Sgt. Justin Martin told AJC.com.

Rianne Rider, 32, of Gainesville, is accused of driving a 2016 Cadillac Escalade north on the road but crossing into southbound traffic, hitting a 2003 Ford Expedition head-on, according to a police news release.

The Expedition’s driver, 53-year-old Gabriel Orozco Suarez, and passenger Lisandro Hernandez, 37, received serious but non-life-threatening injuries, the release said. A third person in the Expedition, Cesar Martinez, had minor injuries. All three were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

Rider was originally charged with DUI and failure to maintain lane, the release said. She has since been charged with two felony counts of serious injury by vehicle and one misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer after allegedly trying to escape from the hospital where she was being treated, an updated release said Tuesday.

She is being held at the Hall County Jail.

Both southbound lanes and one northbound lane were closed until just before 10 p.m., the department said in a tweet.

A third car, driven by Christopher Mundy, 57, was part of the collision after the initial impact. Mundy was not injured, the release said.

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