New video released Wednesday revealed the moments leading up to a car crash that killed a University of Georgia football player and recruiter in January.
Police say Chandler Lecroy, 24, was driving two players and another recruitment staffer from downtown Athens when a rented SUV crashed, killing LeCroy and Devin Willock, an offensive lineman. Police initially said the crash was a one-vehicle accident.
On Wednesday, UGA defensive lineman Jalen Carter was arrested on misdemeanor racing and reckless driving charges. Police said they believed LeCroy and Carter were racing and driving at high rates of speed when Chandler’s SUV crashed on Barnett Shoals road.
Surveillance video obtained by Channel 2 Action News shows several views of downtown Athens about five minutes before the crash.
In the video, a black Jeep Trackhawk, which matches the car owned by Jalen Carter, pulls up to a stop sign at the intersection of North Jackson and East Clayton Street. Seconds later, the black Ford Expedition that police said LeCroy was driving pulls up behind the Jeep.
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A man approaches the Jeep and seems to speak to the people inside and then also briefly talks to the people in the Ford before both vehicles speed off.
Police said that in the time between the surveillance video and the crash, Carter and LeCroy were racing and driving at excessive speeds.
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“The evidence demonstrated that both vehicles switched between lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists, and drove at high rates of speed, in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other,” police said.
The Ford SUV crashed on Barnett Shoals Road around 2:45 a.m. about two-and-a-half miles from downtown Athens.
According to police, LeCroy was driving 104 miles per hour when the SUV went off the road and plowed into a telephone police and an apartment complex.
Willock was sitting in the rear driver-side seat behind LeCroy. According to the report, he was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. LeCroy was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Offensive tackle Warren McClendon, 21, was in the passenger seat. Victoria Bowles was in the rear passenger seat. She was seriously injured.
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