DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — A driver accused of a deadly hit-and-run turned appeared in court Monday after turning himself in.
Douglas County sheriff's deputies say 51-year-old Brian Anthony Russell hit Audrey "Diana" Hartley with his car on Fairburn Road late Saturday night and left the scene.
Russell asked a Douglas County judge for bond, because he came forward on his own.
District Attorney Brian Fortner disagreed.
"He completely controlled the situation and left the scene of this crash and left a woman dying there on the ground and prevented us from being able to test him to see if there was alcohol or anything like that involved," Fortner said.
The judge denied bond for Fortner as Hartley's family watched in the courtroom.
"I just don't see how somebody does that and can't stop,” said Michael Hartley, the victim’s ex-husband. "One tragedy starts another one. I'm sorry for y'all because now y'all got to go through another one and it's in God's hands now, so I'm not judging anybody."
"I'm really sorry about his family as well, they said they're sorry as well," daughter Elizabeth Hartley told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes.
Nasir Javaid, the clerk at a gas station on the corner of Fairburn and Midway roads, told Fernandes that he saw Hartley walking as he was closing up that night.
Javaid said he went to the back of the store for a moment and, "That's when I heard the bang. We went outside, saw her laying right there by my driveway, that's when I called 911."
He did not see the car that hit her but said he will never forget the sound of the crash.
"I was pretty shook up, actually pretty bad because she was one of my regular customers. She lives down the street and her husband, her family, you know, everybody comes in here," Javaid said.
Hartley walked right by a sign posted at the intersection that says it is state law to stop for pedestrians.
Javaid told Fernandes that accidents are a regular occurrence at the intersection.
"We get a lot of wrecks over here, lots of them. And that was the baddest one I've seen," Javaid said.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said Russell was charged with hit and run resulting in serious injury/death and homicide by vehicle/leaving the scene.
WSBTV
