Georgia lawmaker indicted, accused of ignoring deadly hit-and-run

POLK COUNTY, Ga. — A high-ranking Georgia state lawmaker has been indicted on misdemeanor charges alleging he wrongly ignored a fatal hit-and-run crash that his friend called him about as the victim lay dying in a ditch.

Republican state Rep. Trey Kelley was indicted Thursday on a charge of reckless conduct.

Ralph “Ryan” Dover III is accused of calling Kelley instead of 911 after fatally hitting bicyclist Eric Keais in Cedartown in September 2019.

Keais died in a ditch of his injuries more than an hour after the collision.

Dover was indicted on charges of felony hit-and-run and reckless conduct.

A lawyer says Kelley has been fully cooperative, did nothing wrong and will be vindicated.

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Channel 2 Action News spoke to Keias’ brother, Aaron, in February about the crash.

“I don’t want, ‘I’m sorry,’ or, ‘It’ll be OK.’ No, I want you held accountable because that’s the way the world works,” Aaron Keais said.

Channel 2′s Chris Jose spoke to the county coroner in February, who said that Keais had a chance to survive if someone called 911.

“The truth will stand when the world is on fire,” Polk County Coroner Tony Brazier said.

Kelley released a statement about the crash:

“It is heartbreaking that our community has experienced a tragedy like this. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to the victim and the families involved. After getting messages from so many, I wanted to tell my story regarding the evening of September 11, 2019.

That night I received a call from a Polk County citizen who I had seen earlier in the night at the Polk County Fair. This individual worked at a local supermarket, is well liked and is known to have limited mental capacity. He was agitated and upset because he had been involved in an accident and thought he may have hit an animal with his car. After trying unsuccessfully to calm him down and find out what he may have hit, I still had no idea what had happened. At that time, I felt the right thing to do was to go to his location to try to find out what had happened. So, I put my boots back on, and got in my truck. After arriving and driving up and down the road, I saw nothing that indicated a life or death situation, but when I saw a bike located in the ditch off the right side of the roadway, I felt the right thing to do was to call the police and that is what I did. At that time, I still did not know another human being was involved. I fully cooperated with law enforcement at the scene and in the ongoing investigation as a witness and will continue to do so.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report

Cyclist killed in hit-and-run; driver called state rep but not 911, coroner says Now, a state representative and local police chief's actions are under review.

Cox Media Group