COVINGTON, Ga. — A second driver is facing vehicular homicide and other charges related to an October head-on collision on Access Road in which a 19-year-old passenger in her car died.
Briahna Volny, 20, of Covington, was charged Feb. 16 with Homicide by Vehicle in the First Degree, Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and Improper Lane Usage at Newton County Jail, according to information from the Newton County Sheriff's Office.
Volny was the driver of a 2006 Mercedes E350W in which a passenger in her vehicle, Amayah Parris, 19, of Covington, died in the Oct. 24 wreck on Access Road, one mile west of Old Oxford Road, the Georgia State Patrol reported.
A GSP report stated Volny was driving west on Access Road at about 12:45 a.m. on Oct. 24 when her vehicle collided head-on with an eastbound 2000 Ford Explorer SUV driven by Matthew Bartmess, 42, of Covington.
The vehicles struck passenger side headlight to passenger side headlight near the center of the roadway, the report stated.
After impact, both vehicles rotated clockwise and came to final uncontrolled rests on the opposite shoulders of the roadway, it stated.
All had to be extricated from the vehicles.
Parris was a front seat passenger in the Mercedes and was wearing a seat belt. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Volny and a back seat passenger were not seriously injured but were transported to Piedmont Walton Hospital.
Bartmess had suspected serious injuries and was transported by Air Life 6 helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center.
Test results in early February showed Volny was positive for cannabinoids, the GSP report stated.
Volny was released on a property bond totaling more than $30,000 on the charges a day after her arrest, according to information from the Newton County Sheriff's Office.
Bartmess was arrested Feb. 19 and was being held in the Newton County Jail without bond on charges including vehicular homicide and DUI connected to the incident.
The case was turned over to the Newton County District Attorney's Office for prosecution.
