Georgia 17-year-old riding ATV killed after car hit her into path of deputy’s car, mother says

AUGUSTA, Ga. — A mother is searching for answers after her 17-year-old daughter’s life was cut short in a deadly four-wheeler crash.

Cheyenne Grace, 17, died May 27 at Barton Chapel Road and Blossom Drive in Augusta, Georgia.

Her mother told WJBF that the image is forever in her head.

“To see her up under that police car like that...” Dashandra Parks told the news station.

Parks said her daughter was not in the wrong after a Dodge Challenger hit her and a Richmond County Sheriff’s deputy ran over her on Barton Chapel Road, WJBF reported.

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Parks told WJBF that Cheyenne was no amateur when it came to riding four wheelers and that she was taught how to ride.

“This is not something she would just say, ‘Oh I’m going to jump on and ride this today and go.’”

She said Friday night that Cheyenne was wearing a helmet, and the ATV had lights on it.

According to WJBF, the Georgia State Patrol is currently investigating what took place. The GSP crash report has not been released as of Wednesday.

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Parks says people online are condemning her daughter for riding a four-wheeler in the road.

“She was crossing over, but she was sitting in the median waiting and obeying the traffic rules. She was waiting for this traffic to clear for her to get over. Evidently it wasn’t clear, because she was still sitting right there and somebody decided to come on around and knock her,” Parks told WJBF.

On Monday, Augusta Commissioner Alvin Mason went and viewed the memorial for Cheyenne.

“This is part of what I’ve been talking about out here. If you look, there’s really no streetlights out here, very little lights. I’ve been asking my colleagues, we need to have streetlights out here. We need to light up the place,” Commissioner Mason told WJBF.

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Commissioner Mason told WJBF that Barton Chapel Road could easily be labeled a death trap and adding speed bumps and other traffic signals could prevent something like this from happening again.

He says if’s there’s anyone that need to be held accountable, he hopes that they are held accountable. But the fact of the matter is, they need to do something about the lighting and speed.

WJBF said they will release the full incident report once it becomes available.

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