Smyrna authorities say a Carroll County man caused a January wreck that killed his wife's unborn baby and tried to cover up what really happened.
Laquadre Vontez Walker this week was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond on multiple charges, including first-degree feticide by vehicle and insurance claims fraud.
Just before 5 p.m. Jan. 6, he was driving a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta on the wrong side of South Cobb Drive near King Springs Road when he struck a Dodge Ram van, according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Walker's pregnant wife, a passenger in the Jetta, was also injured in the crash. Amanda Marie Walker was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, but the unborn child did not survive.
It was during a police interview at the hospital, authorities said, that Walker and his wife told officers that Amanda Walker was behind the wheel of the Jetta at the time of the crash. They allegedly repeated the same story to Amanda Walker's insurance company.
"The evidence," officials wrote in a second warrant, "appears to show she was not in fact the driver of the vehicle and her husband ... was the driver of the vehicle."
Due to multiple violations, Laquadre Walker should not have been driving, police said. His license was suspended at the time of the crash, which also left the driver of the Dodge Ram with several injuries, including a broken sternum, a broken ankle and a broken leg that "protruded out of the skin," according to the first warrant.
Though the crash occurred in January, arrest warrants for Amanda and Laquadre Walker were not issued until April 11. They were arrested April 13, according to online jail records. Amanda Walker, charged with insurance claims fraud and willful obstruction of a law enforcement officer, was released from custody the same day on a $5,000 bond.
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