Elberton, GA : Designated driver abandons vehicle to avoid assault prior to car crash on Sunday morning, June 5, 2016

One man died and another is still in critical condition today as the result of a car crash Sunday morning that occurred after a designated driver was forced to exit the vehicle he was driving.

Ronxavier Quintey Tate, 24, of an Oglesby Boulevard Extension address died in a crash at approximatey 1:50 a.m. Sunday when the 1995 Chevrolet Caprice he was driving slammed into a residence near the intersection of Third Street and Campbell Street, according to Patrolman Matt Baxley of the Georgia State Patrol.

A passenger in the car, Ketrelle Morrison-Bone, 25, of a Cedar Lane address, was seriously injured in the accident and is still in critical condition at Athens Regional Medical Center, according to Elberton Police Chief Mark Welsh.

Baxley said Monday Tate had asked a designated driver to take him and Morrison-Bone to a location while they were at a night club on the Bowman Highway in the early hours of Sunday morning.
When the designated driver, not identified in the state patrol report, got near the crash location, he was forced to leave the vehicle because he was being “verbally and physically assaulted,” according to Baxley.
“He got out of the car to avoid being assaulted,” said Baxley. “When (the designated driver) got out (Tate) jumped into the driver’s seat and took off.”

Baxley said he identified and talked with the designated driver but did not identify him in an incident report because “I don’t see where it would do any good.”

Tate, according to Baxley, ran through a stop sign and crossed two lanes of roadway before his Caprice hit a curb and then hit a residential building and came to “an uncontrolled rest.” No one in the residence was hurt.

Welsh said the fatality “was determined to be alcohol-related.”

Source :
Designated driver abandons vehicle to avoid assault prior to car crash