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Kane Aaron Hammock, 33, has been charged with eight counts of
vehicular homicide in the second degree and one count of
feticide by a vehicle in the second degree, Franka Young, a
spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said
in an email Tuesday afternoon. Hammock has also been charged
with counts of following too closely, no registration and driver
to exercise due care.
The victims were killed Monday afternoon, when the semitrailer
struck a Dodge van on Interstate 85 in Jackson County, about 62
miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta and it burst into
flames, according to law enforcement.
The identities of the eight people killed in the van have not
been released. Young said one person may have been pregnant,
“but this will not be confirmed until an autopsy has been
completed.”
Hammock was arrested by the Georgia State Patrol and booked into
the Jackson County Jail, records show. Jail records did not list
any attorney who could be reached to comment on his behalf, and
a message left late Tuesday with the local public defender’s
office was not immediately returned.
Four other vehicles also crashed in what officials described as
a “chain reaction” after the initial collision.
A van being used by Furkids Animal Rescue and Shelters was one
of the other vehicles involved in the crash. That van’s driver
was left with bruises and cuts to his head, according to CEO
Samantha Shelton.
“In the chaos of the wreckage, cages were crushed, and cats
began to flee,” the Cumming, Georgia-based animal rescue group
wrote on its Facebook page.
The group was taking 37 cats to a shelter in Vermont, and some
of the cats fled after the crash, Shelton said. Two were still
missing as of Tuesday, and one cat was hospitalized in critical
care, Shelton said.
The crash is being investigated by the Georgia State Patrol’s
Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team, Young said. The
National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the
crash.
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Golden reported from Seattle.
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