GSP: Dump truck driver texting at time of fatal wreck

The driver of a dump truck involved in a fatal wreck on Ga. 140 in Armuchee is charged with first-degree vehicular homicide and texting while driving.

Police say Jesse Adam Ridgeway, 36, of Muscadine, Alabama, was apparently texting on his mobile device when the wreck happened.

Ridgeway remained in the Floyd County Jail Wednesday night. A Cedartown man, 49-year-old William Chad Lance, was killed in the wreck.

Ridgeway is also charged with reckless driving, driving on an expired tag, driving on the wrong side of the road and driving with a suspended or revoked license.

According to Georgia State Patrol Trooper Jeremy Battle: The Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team for Troop A of the Georgia State patrol is in the process of doing a complete investigation into the wreck which oc- curred Tuesday night.

Ridgeway was headed west on Ga. 140 and sideswiped Lance, who was eastbound in his Acura. The impact caved in the driver’s side of the Acura and the dump truck continued for approximately another 75 yards before going off the north shoulder of the road and down an embankment into the front yard of a private home.

Troopers said they have reason to believe that Ridgeway was engaged in a texting conversation with someone.

“We’ve got to seek a search warrant for his mobile device,” Battle said. “At this point I have no reason to know who he might have been texting with.”

Battle also confirmed that Ridgeway’s Commercial Driver's License had been canceled because of previous driving history.

Ridgeway was granted a bond of $22,400 on the charges stemming from the wreck, but was being held in Floyd County Jail on a non-payment of child support warrant from Polk County.