Player’s shifting accounts alter police narrative of single-car wreck
At first, Jalen Carter told the police he was nearly a mile away when a University of Georgia teammate and a football staff member died in a car crash.
Later, Carter said he had been following the car when it wrecked, close enough to see its taillights.
And, at one point, he acknowledged he was alongside the other car, whose speedometer stuck on impact at 83 mph — double the speed limit.
Carter, a defensive star for Georgia who is projected as a top pick in this year’s NFL draft, left the crash scene, apparently before the police or emergency medical workers arrived. When he returned an hour and a half later, he gave shifting accounts of the wreck as an Athens police officer questioned him about whether he had been racing the car that crashed, according to documents reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Carter denied he was racing before the Jan. 15 crash, which killed recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy, 24, and offensive lineman Devin Willock, 20. Another recruiting staff member, Tory Bowles, 26, and offensive lineman Warren McClendon, 21, were injured.
Carter’s presence at the moment of the crash, previously unreported, alters the narrative that Athens police officials offered publicly from the beginning. It was, officials said, simply a single-car accident, caused by LeCroy’s driving too fast.
But the police had reason to suspect almost from the moment of the crash that other cars had been at the scene, and they soon learned at least two of those vehicles were driven by Georgia football players. Seeking evidence of possible racing, officers have obtained surveillance video from city-owned cameras along the route the players took out of downtown Athens. They also obtained footage from at least one business owner. The police have declined to release these videos, saying they are evidence in an open case.
A police spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on Monday or Tuesday.
Whether Carter, 21, faces legal jeopardy is not clear. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said late Tuesday that authorities have not contacted Carter about potential charges. “I’m not in a position (to comment) until we hear from someone in an official capacity,” Rosenhaus said.
Carter’s possible connection in the crash comes to light as NFL teams assess potential picks ahead of the April draft. Carter is attending the NFL’s annual scouting combine this week in Indianapolis, where he will undergo a physical examination and sit for interviews with team officials. The combine could determine how high he is chosen in the draft’s first round as well as the value of his rookie contract.
As the best defensive player on the best team in college football for the past two years, Carter already has benefitted from name, image and likeness deals. He has endorsed an Ohio luxury car dealer, appearing in a video in which he speeds away in a 2021 black Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk. With a 707-horsepower engine known as a Hellcat V-8, the vehicle has a top speed of 180 mph and can accelerate from zero to 60 in about three seconds. Used models retail around $100,000.
Carter drove the same model the night of the fatal crash, as well as on a Thursday evening last fall, when the Athens police ticketed him for driving 89 in a 45 mph zone. A judge fined him $1,013 for the Sept. 22 speeding ticket.
It's behind a paywall so here's a free link: https://archive.md/kTxUb#selection-1883.0-2009.33
At first, Jalen Carter told the police he was nearly a mile away when a University of Georgia teammate and a football staff member died in a car crash.
Later, Carter said he had been following the car when it wrecked, close enough to see its taillights.
And, at one point, he acknowledged he was alongside the other car, whose speedometer stuck on impact at 83 mph — double the speed limit.
Carter, a defensive star for Georgia who is projected as a top pick in this year’s NFL draft, left the crash scene, apparently before the police or emergency medical workers arrived. When he returned an hour and a half later, he gave shifting accounts of the wreck as an Athens police officer questioned him about whether he had been racing the car that crashed, according to documents reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Carter denied he was racing before the Jan. 15 crash, which killed recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy, 24, and offensive lineman Devin Willock, 20. Another recruiting staff member, Tory Bowles, 26, and offensive lineman Warren McClendon, 21, were injured.
Carter’s presence at the moment of the crash, previously unreported, alters the narrative that Athens police officials offered publicly from the beginning. It was, officials said, simply a single-car accident, caused by LeCroy’s driving too fast.
But the police had reason to suspect almost from the moment of the crash that other cars had been at the scene, and they soon learned at least two of those vehicles were driven by Georgia football players. Seeking evidence of possible racing, officers have obtained surveillance video from city-owned cameras along the route the players took out of downtown Athens. They also obtained footage from at least one business owner. The police have declined to release these videos, saying they are evidence in an open case.
A police spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on Monday or Tuesday.
Whether Carter, 21, faces legal jeopardy is not clear. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said late Tuesday that authorities have not contacted Carter about potential charges. “I’m not in a position (to comment) until we hear from someone in an official capacity,” Rosenhaus said.
Carter’s possible connection in the crash comes to light as NFL teams assess potential picks ahead of the April draft. Carter is attending the NFL’s annual scouting combine this week in Indianapolis, where he will undergo a physical examination and sit for interviews with team officials. The combine could determine how high he is chosen in the draft’s first round as well as the value of his rookie contract.
As the best defensive player on the best team in college football for the past two years, Carter already has benefitted from name, image and likeness deals. He has endorsed an Ohio luxury car dealer, appearing in a video in which he speeds away in a 2021 black Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk. With a 707-horsepower engine known as a Hellcat V-8, the vehicle has a top speed of 180 mph and can accelerate from zero to 60 in about three seconds. Used models retail around $100,000.
Carter drove the same model the night of the fatal crash, as well as on a Thursday evening last fall, when the Athens police ticketed him for driving 89 in a 45 mph zone. A judge fined him $1,013 for the Sept. 22 speeding ticket.
It's behind a paywall so here's a free link: https://archive.md/kTxUb#selection-1883.0-2009.33
