Driver of medical transport van who crashed, killing 2 women won’t serve any time

ATLANTA — A judge tossed out charges of vehicular homicide after a 19-year-old driving a medical transport van crashed and killed two women.

That teen is now walking away with probation.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes has been covering the trial for two days at the Fulton County Courthouse, where the victims’ families were devastated.

The two mothers whose daughters were killed at work sat through two days of hearing the details just to have the trial abruptly end and turn into a plea hearing. Nearly every person in the courtroom was in tears.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Mama June and family going on ‘last family trip’ with daughter amid cancer battle
• Jeannie Mai accuses Jeezy of cheating, he says she’s gatekeeping their child, court documents say
• PHOTOS: These Georgia children and teens all vanished and haven’t been seen since

Police said 19-year-old John Walker was on his first day driving a medical transport van. The patient said he dropped his phone and crashed the van on Campbellton Road while he was trying to pick the phone up. The crash killed his co-worker, paramedic Ti-Quita Miles and another driver, daycare director Jada Whatley.

Miles and Whatley’s families wanted justice today, but they say they didn’t get it.

The Fly Lawyer told Fernandes on Thursday that he was presenting motions to the judge that would force him to drop the vehicular homicide charges.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

“If you leave out that while he was failing to maintain his lane, that he failed to ascertain before he moved over to that lane to make sure it was safe, if you don’t put that in there, the whole charges fail, and that’s why this case failed,” The Fly Lawyer said.

Walker ended up pleading guilty to one charge of speeding.

When the verdict came down, Miles’ mother had a breakdown, screaming out in court.

Cheryl Price-Harris, Whatley’s mom, said they made a mockery out of her child’s death.

“I’m sick physically. I’m sick mentally. I’m spiritually broken down by all of this. And today I gotta go home and be broken,” Price-Harris said.

Walker did apologize to the families in court, saying he wished he was the one who died.

Protester sets themself on fire outside Midtown Atlanta building, leaving 2 injured sources say Police are responding to the scene of several people injured at a building on Spring Street.

©2023 Cox Media Group