Crime & Safety

Driver in Hester Fatality Charged With Vehicular Homicide, DUI

Robert Champine, 59, was arrested and faces several felony charges relating to the motorcycle accident Saturday that killed Walton County Sheriff's Deputy Lt. Darren Hester.

Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said the driver of the vehicle that turned into the path of the motorcycle carrying s Deputy Lt. Darren Hester and his wife was arrested and taken to the Hall County jail.

in Hall County at 6.10 p.m. Saturday. His wife remains in a critical condition at Atlanta Medical Center.

"The driver of the 2000 Chevrolet 3500 truck that turned into the path of the motorcycle was being driven by Robert Champine, age 59, from Gainesville," Wright said. "He was arrested and has been charged  with first degree vehicular homicide, DUI, failure to yield while turning left, serious injury by vehicle and felony possession of marijuana.  He was taken to the Hall County Jail."
Wright said more than an ounce of marijuana was found in the vehicle, making the possession of it a felony.
"It has not been weighed yet but is more than an ounce and less than a kilo," Wright said.

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Condolences and messages of support continue to pour in on the Facebook page of Hester's wife, Jamie Jones Hester. The motorcycle fatality brings to five the number of Walton County residents killed in motor vehicle wrecks this month.

Friday 79-year-old Charlie Allen Moore was killed in a wreck on Highway 11 in Monroe after exiting from Highway 78. He was reportedly on the way to a nursing home in Monroe to feed lunch to his wife when the accident happened. On Sept. 11, Tracy Talley, 36, of Monroe died in an accident in Loganville, Sept. 12, Richard Lynn McKee, 24, of Loganville, died in a motorcycle wreck on Highway 138 in Newton County and that same afternoon, Loganville High School student Madison Young, 15, was killed in an ATV accident.

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