Witnesses say a driver who admitted drinking caused a 5-car crash; DeKalb Police changed the blame

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Drivers who were involved in a five-car accident are questioning why a man was not arrested for DUI.

The mother of a young woman involved told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln that two police accident reports contradict each other.

“I was horrified,” said Angela Green, describing how she felt when seeing her daughter’s mangled car.

It was part of a multi-car crash scene on Interstate 285 near Bouldercrest Road in February.

Green said her 22-year-old daughter is now facing an onslaught of insurance claims from other vehicles involved after details in a second police report points blame at her daughter.

“It was just awful,” Green said.

She said the initial police report paints a different picture, Placing blame on the driver of an SUV.

Statements say witnesses saw the SUV cross lanes hitting Green’s daughter’s white car from behind, triggering a chain reaction collision.

In both reports, the officer reported smelling alcohol on the SUV driver, and the driver admitted to drinking.

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A field sobriety test was conducted on the driver of the SUV. However, he was not arrested.

“To be involved in a multi-car accident like that, and to talk away and not be charged at all, what’s going on here,” Green said.

Green told Lincoln that the two reports tell two different stories.

“The car was blue in the first report, it was green in the second report. The drunk driver didn’t have a passenger in the first report, suddenly, he has a passenger in the second report,” Green said.

DeKalb County police confirmed to Lincoln that it’s not unusual for details to change during an investigation. They said the supplemental reports are done by experts with the department’s traffic specialist unit.

They also said even with the SUV driver admitting to drinking since he passed the sobriety test, the responding officers were not required to make an arrest.

“It doesn’t matter how many people write a report, it could have been McGilla Gorilla and Santa Claus, basic facts of an investigation don’t change,” Green said.

Green said her insurance company is planning to take the case to court, refuting the second police report.

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