PAUDLING COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned that a new witness has come forward in the deadly wreck that killed a pair of high school sweethearts from Paulding County.
The witness gave Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes a detailed account of the crash that contradicts what the Georgia State Patrol first said about who was responsible.
Janeal Priester, 18, and Nickuhlous Wright, 17, died in the crash Wednesday night. Investigators initially said Priester pulled out into oncoming traffic.
A memorial continues to grow at the spot where the teens' car landed.
Kerstin Liberty told Fernandes she believes it's clear who is at fault.
"I saw everything that happened from before it happened until after it happened," Liberty said.
Liberty told Fernandes she was driving along Highway 61 around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. She said a Ford Mustang and a Toyota Camry got her attention.
"They were driving very erratically. They would speed up and slow down and speed up and slow down, and then they started to sort of chase each other," Liberty said.
She said she called 911 to report the two speeding cars. She said the Camry's driver was the aggressor.
"She came up beside the Mustang and then she knew she had to get around so she quickly swerved in front of the Mustang and at that moment she ran into the car," Liberty said.
The car that was hit was the one Priester and Wright were traveling in.
"It flipped immediately and you could tell there was gonna be a fatality in the car," Liberty said.
According to an initial investigation by GSP, Priester was at fault for not yielding to oncoming traffic. Liberty says that's just not true.
"I was absolutely horrified and felt like it really does a disservice to the children that lost their lives, I know for a fact that the two cars were driving very recklessly and I know that they caused (the crash). There's just no doubt in my mind," Liberty said.
Right after she gave GSP her witness statement that night, Liberty says she heard the Camry driver confessing.
"She was saying, 'It was my fault, I did that.' She knew that she was in the wrong," Liberty said.
Priester's younger brother, Josh, who was in the back seat, and the driver of the Camry were injured in the crash.
GSP told Fernandes the new information means charges are possible and the investigation continues.
WSBTV
