Driver pleads not guilty in fatality
Jesse Adam Ridgeway waives his arraignment in the case involving a wreck in which he is accused of being DUI and texting while driving.
An Alabama man waived his arraignment and pled not guilty Friday to criminal charges, including homicide by vehicle, related to a June 2017 wreck in which he is accused of causing the death of 49-year-old William Chad Lance.
Jesse Adam Ridgeway, 37, of Muscadine, Alabama, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Floyd County Superior Court, before Judge Bryant Durham.
Last month a grand jury indicted him on the homicide by vehicle charge. He is also charged with driving under the influence of drugs, driving on the wrong side of the road, driving on a suspended license, operating a vehicle with an expired tag, reckless driving and texting while operating a vehicle.
According to Georgia State Trooper Jeremy Battle:
On June 27, Ridgeway was driving a dump truck on Ga. 140 near the intersection of U.S. 27, reportedly texting on his cellphone, when he struck Lance’s Acura around 5 p.m.
The impact caved in the driver’s side of the Acura. The dump truck continued another 75 yards before going off the road and down an embankment. Ridgeway’s commercial driver’s license had been canceled due to his previous driving history.
Ridgeway was arrested that night. Days later, following an interview with the state trooper at the Floyd County Jail, he was charged with DUI.
Ridgeway was in jail without bond Friday night on a hold for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. He will be put on the criminal jury trial calendar.