GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A driver involved in the Labor Day wreck that left five teenagers dead has been arrested and charged with five counts of first-degree homicide by vehicle, police said Wednesday.
Emanuel Esfahani, 20, allegedly was racing with a truck on the Route 316 skyway ramp to I-85 South when the two vehicles collided and sent the truck with five teens as passengers careening over a barrier wall onto the Pleasant Hill Road exit ramp/distributor road below. Police said Esfahani was believed to be driving 107 miles per hour.
The fall was 37 feet, police determined. A third car traveling on the distributor road then hit the car that had fallen into the middle of the roadway.
The five teens in the truck that died were identified as 17-year-old Katie Gaitan, 16-year-old Ashley Gaitan, 17-year-old Coral Lorenzo, 18-year-old Hung Nguyen (the driver of the truck) and 19-year-old Abner Santana.
Sisters Katie and Ashley Gaitan as well as Coral Lorenzo were students at Lakeside High School.
The cars were traveling over 100 miles per hour, a Gwinnett County Police Department statement said, "when they came upon a vehicle traveling slower than they were. The Tacoma passed on the left, and the Infiniti passed on the right, likely in the right emergency lane."
"The Infiniti quickly came upon a box truck stopped in the emergency lane and swerved to the left to avoid the truck. The Infiniti swerved across the lanes and struck the Tacoma, unintentionally performing a P.I.T. Maneuver, causing the Tacoma to lose traction and began to spin and roll," the statement added. "That is when the Tacoma continued to travel right across the lanes, making an impact with the retaining wall. The excess speed caused it to carry over the wall and fall to the ramp 37 feet below."
According to GCPD, Esfahani turned himself in at Gwinnett County Jail on Tuesday night. In addition to the five homicide by vehicle counts, he faces charges of reckless driving, racing, speeding, unsafe lane change and seatbelt required.
There is no indication the third driver, who hit the truck after it fell, will face any charges.
