A two-car “crash killed 5 teens in Gwinnett County.” According to the Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD), 20-year-old Emanuel Rene Esfahani of Hiram has been charged with a cascade of criminal counts, including “5 felony counts of homicide by vehicle in the first degree; reckless driving; racing on highways; speeding; failure to maintain lane;” and, not to overlook any criminal culpability, “a seat belt violation.”
Esfahani was booked into jail at approximately 9 p.m. Sept. 26. Gwinnett County Police claim the two vehicles involved in the lethal crash “were racing.” The lethal crash occurred on Labor Day. As reported, GCPD says their investigators determined that Esfahani, who “was driving an Infiniti G35, was racing the Toyota Tacoma, driven by Hung Nguyen and occupied by 5 other people.”
The GCPD has alleged that both drivers were “speeding in an excess of 100 miles per hour on the exit ramp from State Route 316 to Pleasant Hill Road.” The police speculated that the two racing cars “came upon a vehicle traveling slower than they were.” Further analysis by the GCPD suggests that “the Tacoma reportedly passed on the left and the Infiniti passed on the right, most likely in the right emergency lane.”
As reported, the GCPD concluded that the Infiniti then quickly came upon a box truck stopped in the emergency lane and swerved left to avoid the truck. The details of the crash inform that the “Infiniti then swerved across the lanes, striking the Tacoma.” The Tacoma lost traction and “spun and rolled,” hitting a retaining wall and, due to its high speed, went over the wall and “plunged to the road below.”
Esfahani reportedly jumped over the barrier after the crash and landed in a creek, police say. He sustained multiple broken bones as a result and was transported to a local hospital. Ranging in ages from 16 to 19, a list of the teens killed can be seen here. Jonathan Reyes, 18 years old, from Lawrenceville, who seemed to be a passenger in the Tacoma, survived the crash. Three of the students attended Lakeside High School.
