Local

Cobb crash leaves 2 dead

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Police in Cobb County are investigating a deadly crash during Wednesday morning’s rush hour.

Channel 2's Ross Cavitt has since learned that the driver accused of causing the crash had just fled from a traffic stop.

The crash happened on Austell Road at Sweetwater Lane sometime before 4:30 a.m. Police said two people were killed but did not identify the victims. The cars involved were a Honda and an Acura, which was upside down in the median.

A neighbor told Channel 2's Richard Elliot the crash sounded like a shotgun went off in his yard.

Another neighbor, Billy Cooper, said the impact outside his home  woke him up from a deep sleep.

As he ran to the front door, he said a couple of Austell police officers were right there.

"I just heard a big, loud bang, you know, and I thought it was a police chase or something like that, because they arrived about 60 seconds after it happened," Cooper said.

Firefighters also arrived within minutes, but the Acura and Honda were so badly mangled, and the drivers so badly injured, they could not be saved.

As investigators pieced together exactly what caused this violent head-on crash, it became appeared Cooper's hunch was at least partly correct.

A person familiar with the investigation said the driver fled from a traffic stop heading in the wrong direction right along Austell Road right before the crash. It happened so fast that police were not able to get into a chase with the suspect.

The subdivision where the initial traffic stop happened was just down the street from the crash. Police still don't know why the driver fled from the stop.

Southbound lanes of Austell Road were shut down as crews worked to clear the wreckage. Channel 2’s Mark Arum advised drivers to use Powder Springs and Floyd roads as alternate routes. All lanes of the road reopened shortly before 6:30 a.m.