Adairsville man arrested for DUI after seriously injuring woman in crash on I-75 in Gordon County

According to a Georgia State Patrol incident report, On Christmas, December 25th, 2022, at approximately 1:23 AM, a three-vehicle crash occurred on I-75 northbound near MM 312. Sgt. Stanley and Cpl. Langham learned that a 2013 Lincoln passenger car had struck the rear of a Jeep SUV, causing the Jeep to overturn several times in the roadway. According to the report, The involvement of the third vehicle was limited to being struck by debris from the collision of the Lincoln and the Jeep. Troopers learned that one of the passengers of the Jeep had been transported to the local hospital to await a helicopter transport to Erlanger Medical Center for serious injuries. Troopers later spoke to a family member who advised the injured passenger was his mother-in-law and that she sustained a broken leg, broken clavicle, broken ribs, broken wrist, broken spine, broken neck, etc. Gordon County Deputies were on scene assisting with the crash as well. Cpl. Langham spoke with the driver of the third vehicle, who stated that the Lincoln was traveling at a very high rate of speed and struck the Jeep in the rear. Sgt. Stanley spoke with the driver of the Jeep, who advised he was driving north in the middle lane of I-75 northbound at around 70 mph. He stated that he never saw the Lincoln approaching from the rear. He stated that the Lincoln struck the rear of his vehicle at an extremely high rate of speed, causing his vehicle to overturn in the roadway. Sgt. Stanley then made contact with the driver of the Lincoln, identified as Marlo Donsha Brown, 45, of Adairsville. Brown was sitting in the rear seat of a Gordon County patrol car because he was wandering around the scene, and the temperature at this time was approximately 10 degrees. Sgt. Stanley reported, “[I] asked Mr. Brown to exit the vehicle and speak with me. Once we were positioned at the front of my patrol car, [I] asked Mr. Brown to tell me what had happened. Mr. Brown stated that he was driving along, and a vehicle swerved in front of him. [I] immediately smelled the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Mr. Brown’s breath. [I] asked him where he was coming from. He stated that he had gone to Dalton to get gas and was on his way back home to Adairsville when the crash occurred. This explanation made no sense. If this were correct, Mr. Brown would have been traveling south rather than north. Mr. Brown had previously stated to Deputy Martin that he was on his way from Atlanta to Adairsville. This also did not make sense, as Mr. Brown crashed approximately six miles north of Adairsville. Mr. Brown had no further explanation. [I] asked Mr. Brown how much alcohol he had consumed. He stated that he had not consumed any alcohol. [I] advised him that [I] could smell the odor coming directly from his breath. He had no explanation for this either.” During field sobriety testing, brown showed several signs of impairment and a BAC of .095 on a PBT. Brown was placed under arrest for DUI and refused the state test. Brown was charged with following too closely, reckless driving, DUI driving under the influence, and serious injury by vehicle. According to the report, “Search warrants were executed by SCRT A for the Lincoln and the Jeep. The search warrants were instrumental in determining the speeds of each of the two vehicles just prior to the crash. The Jeep, five seconds prior to impact, was traveling 72 mph. The Lincoln driven by Mr. Brown, five seconds prior to impact, was traveling 113 mph.”

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