Sheriff’s office investigating reports of assault on school bus

CALHOUN — Detectives are investigating the reports of an assault involving students on a Gordon County school bus Tuesday.

According to the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office:

The sheriff’s office is coordinating with the Gordon County School System and detectives are reviewing security camera recordings and interviewing witnesses.

“The investigation is in its early stage today and more information will be made public as it becomes available,” Gordon County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Robert Paris said in an email. The Calhoun Times

Gordon man arrested on child molestation charges

CALHOUN — A 32-year-old Gordon County remains in jail on a felony aggravated child molestation charge after a report last Friday.

According to Gordon County Sheriff Mitch Ralston:

On Aug. 3, the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a suspected child molestation from a local health care provider.

The report involved a preschool-aged child and after an investigation detectives picked up Vernie Thomas Leatherwood, of 288 Iracil Lane, and charged him with two counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Gordon County Superior Court records showed Leatherwood had a previous child molestation conviction. He entered a guilty plea to child molestation on Jan. 11, 2007 and received a sentence of ten years probation.

Leatherwood is in jail pending his court appearance. The Calhoun Times

Man charged with speeding, DUI in fatal crash

MARIETTA — The man accused of causing the head-on collision that killed a Cobb elementary school teacher and a rising North Cobb High School senior last month has been arrested and charged with speeding and driving under the influence of drugs, jail records show.

Braden Price, 20, was arrested in Acworth on Wednesday afternoon, jail records show.

Police say Price was driving a red 2010 Toyota Corolla at least 78 mph along Mars Hill Road July 22 when he crossed into the oncoming lane and struck an SUV driven by Allison Carroll, a third grade teacher at Dowell Elementary School.

Carroll, 24, who was to marry her college sweetheart just two months later, was killed in the collision. Also killed in the wreck was Ashley Bratton, a 17-year-old set to start her senior year at North Cobb High.

Bratton was seated in the backseat of the Corolla, according to police. A third teenage passenger was injured.

Price was speeding and lost control on the wet two-lane road, crossed the double yellow line and slammed into Carroll’s SUV. After the collision, Price allegedly admitted to officers he had smoked “just a few” joints before getting behind the wheel, his warrant states. Shaddi Abusaid, Marietta Daily Journal