GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County authorities are investigating a fatal multivehicle wreck that shut down Highway 316 for several hours Sunday afternoon.
The crash happened on Highway 316 eastbound underneath the Lawrenceville Suwanee Road Bridge around 3:20 p.m., Gwinnett County fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said.
One person, identified as 39-year-old Pamela Leake, of Lawrenceville, was killed. Three others were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
When authorities arrived on the scene, there were two people trapped in one of the vehicles and they had to be extricated by firefighters, Rutledge said. One vehicle had flipped several times and came to rest upright. A total of seven vehicles were involved in the crash, police said.
“From not only the evidence we are seeing on the scene, but from what witnesses are telling us the red Isuzu was attempting to pass traffic in the emergency lane and is what started this chain-reaction accident,” said Lawrenceville police Capt. Jeff Smith.
Gwinnett police said the at-fault driver, Sabrina Townes, 32, had a warrant out in DeKalb County for vehicular homicide in a separate case two years ago.
Sunday, Channel 2 Action News discovered that Townes was wanted in connection to a four-car accident in DeKalb County. A man, Lymeng Lim, died in that 2012 accident.
Lim served in the U.S Navy for at least 10 years. And while his sister was thrilled to get the news of Townes' capture on all days Memorial Day she said she's still in shock over her brother’s death.
"Heartbroken, still two years, we will remember him, you know," Siv Chang said.
Lim's nephew, Simon Chang, is disappointed that it’s taken two years to catch Townes.
"It's kind of upsetting. It took two years, and we had to wait till she caused another accident to catch her," Chang said.
Channel 2's Erica Byfield looked through Townes' records and found that, within the last 10 years, police have charged her with driving on a suspended license, theft, criminal trespass and shoplifting.
“It's a tragedy and she shouldn’t have been out driving,” driver Daniel Dabbs told Channel 2.
Townes is in custody at the Gwinnett County Jail.