The driver of the vehicle responsible for killing a Walton County Sheriff’s Officer was arrested last week and is facing several felony charges including first degree vehicular homicide and felony possession of marijuana and DUI.
On Saturday, September 24, Robert Champine, 59, struck Darren Hester, 46, and his wife, Jamie Jones Hester, on their motorcycle which was traveling south on Cleveland Highway when he turned into a gas station parking lot, crashing into their bike, according to Georgia State Patrol. Hester was killed at the scene and his wife was airlifted to the Atlanta Medical Center.
Hester was a deputy with the Walton County Sheriff’s office for 26 years.
Hester served as a uniform patrol officer at the sheriff’s office and was the night shift supervisor. He had been with the department for some 26 years.
“He was a lieutenant working as a shift supervisor, which is one of the hardest jobs at the sheriff’s office,” Sheriff Joe Chapman said Sunday morning. “I certainly wish this had not happened. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said that Champine turned into the path of the Lt. Hester. Champine was arrested and taken to the Hall County jail and booked.
The motorcycle fatality brings to five the number of Walton County residents killed in motor vehicle wrecks this month.
On Friday, Charlie Allen Moore, 79, was killed in a crash on Highway 11. He was traveling to see his wife at a nursing home in Monroe.
On September 11, Tracy Talley 36, died in an accident in Loganville.
Richard Lynn McKee, 24, was killed in a motorcycle crash on Highway 138 in Newton County on September 12th. And on the same afternoon, Madison Young, 15, was tragically killed in an ATV accident.
The Law Offices of P. Charles Scholle, P.C., represents clients in serious personal injury, wrongful death and related matters and has been doing so successfully for almost twenty years. Our legal representation has resulted in recoveries on behalf of victims of injury and their families who have suffered injury or the loss of a loved one due to the negligence or wrongful conduct of another person or entity.
Recently, our offices secured the amount of $1,550,000 in a wrongful death claim as the result of a motorcycle crash that proved fatal; an automobile driver failed to yield to a motorcyclist.
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