A 26-year-old Covington man, the passenger in a single vehicle crash, was killed Saturday night when the car went off McDaniel Mill road into a yard and into a tree. The driver, a 27-year-old Conyers man, was transported by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center with serious injuries.

The 2008 Honda Civic was reportedly traveling south on McDaniel Mill Road, approaching Adrian Circle, around 3:50 a.m. on Saturday morning.

As the car came around the curve at a high speed, the driver lost control and slid off the left side of the roadway, striking a culvert and rolling across the yard at 1030 McDaniel Mill before colliding with a tree.

The passenger, Zachary Ortiz, was pronounced deceased on the scene. The driver, Jesse Curbow, was charged with failure to maintain lane.

Both driver and passenger reportedly had their seat belts on.

That portion of McDaniel Mill Road has been the site of several accidents in the past.

A Rockdale County Sheriff's Office patrol car lost control and slammed into the side of a house in June 2009 at the intersection of McDaniel Mill and Adrian Circle while it was responding to a burglary in progress call. Neither of the elderly residents of the house were hurt and the deputy was treated for non-life threatening injuries.