The driver of a car that careened into a Rincon house on New Year’s Day faces a series of charges for the incident.
Corey Adam Padgett is being charged with driving under the influence, failure to stop at a stop sign and driving on a suspended license after he sped away from a Rincon police car that had pulled him over.
Padgett eventually struck a car being driven by Irma Grant of Hardeeville, S.C., after he ran the stop sign at Richland Avenue and East 4th Street, according to Georgia State Patrol reports. Padgett’s 1999 Dodge Intrepid struck Grant’s 2001 Chrysler Sebring in the left front fender. Padgett’s car spun counter-clockwise, hit a stop sign and then crashed into a house owned by Ritchie Dickey at the corner of Richland and 4th.
Padgett’s Intrepid rolled onto its right side, hitting a tree and coming to rest upside down.
Grant’s car spun clockwise after being struck by Padgett’s vehicle. Grant, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the car. She was taken to Memorial Health University Center in Savannah and is in the neuro intensive care unit, according to reports.
“There may be additional charges,” GSP Trooper Chad Gray said.
Grant’s passengers, Randy Williamson of Hardeeville and Maggie Ansley of Bluffton, S.C., also were taken to the hospital for treatment. Ansley’s injuries also were reported to be serious.
Padgett, who took off from Rincon police during a traffic stop on 7th Street, had tried to flee down Richland Avenue. The passenger in his car ran away after the crash and has not yet been apprehended by authorities.
Georgia State Patrol troopers were called in to investigate the crash. Rincon police likely will have charges on Padgett’s passenger. Gray said he believes it won’t be long before that person is picked up.