A Newton County teen has been charged in the January vehicular homicide of 56-year-old Alison M. Bell.
Warrants were taken for 17-year-old McKenzie Farrow Crowe Wednesday and she turned herself in to the Newton County Sheriff's Office at 5:45 p.m. and was bonded out on a $25,500 property bond at 8:39 p.m.
Charges against Crowe stem from a deadly accident that occurred January 28 on Cook Road, just south of Sockwell Road. Campbell was driving a 2002 Ford Explorer down Cook Road around 2:48 a.m. when Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said a 2003 Ford Ranger driven by Crowe crossed the center line and hit Campbell's vehicle head-on. Crowe was airlifted to Grady Hospital in Atlanta where she was treated and released. According to an earlier story, Wright said that "alcohol is suspected and blood was drawn from Ms. Crowe for analysis."
According to the accident report from the GSP, Crowe was trapped and had to be extricated from the vehicle.
Her listed condition at the time of the crash was "under the influence of medication/drugs/alcohol."
The report stated Bell did not have a valid license, nor was she wearing a seatbelt. She was partially ejected from her vehicle and pronounced dead on the scene.
Crowe was able to return to school at EHS, despite the school system's handbook that made that option seem unlikely. Rule 84 - Conduct outside of school hours or school activities - states, "a student who has committed any act off campus which is prohibited by the Georgia Criminal Code and is punishable as a felony or would be punishable as a felony if committed by an adult (regardless of whether the student has been arrested, charged, or convicted with a crime) and whose presence at school is reasonably certain to endanger other students, staff or the student or cause substantial disruption in the educational climate may be disciplined or excluded from school." (HB 1190)
According to the Newton County School System's Director of Human Resources Nyree Sanders, she was not able to release information about Crowe's graduation status.
A question about any policy the NCSS may have regarding walking at graduation when charged with a felony were, according to Sanders, directed to Samantha Fuhrey, Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, who said, "There is no explicit rule preventing students from participating in graduation relative to a felony charge; however, the school system is permitted by Georgia law to remove students from school via due process if the student is charged with a felony and his/her presence is reasonably certain to endanger other students or staff or if his/her presence would cause a substantial disruption to the educational climate."
Crowe has been charged with a felony (vehicular homicide in the first degree) and two misdemeanors (improper lane usage, DUI). A blood test showed that Crowe's blood alcohol level was at .102. In Georgia the legal limit is .08.
According to Georgia law, first degree vehicular homicide is punishable by three to five years of imprisonment.
For DUI and vehicular homicide, penalties could include paying thousands in fines as well as lose their driving privileges for a year or more.
Crowe's attorney Jennifer Curry did not return messages. Bell's daughter declined to comment at this time.
