CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Florida man is accused of impaired driving after a two-vehicle crash killed two pedestrians and injured a third, authorities said.
According to a news release from the Chattanooga Police Department, Randy Vega, 44, of Tampa, was charged with aggravated vehicular assault by impairment, driving under the influence, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and two counts of vehicular homicide by impairment, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
Relatives of the victims, who started a GoFundMe page identified them as Anna Posso, 41, and 22-month-old Jonathan Devia, according to WTVC. The page also identifies the man injured as Posso’s husband, Octavio Devia. According to the GoFundMe page, Posso and the Devias are from Jacksonville, Florida, and was visiting Tennessee when the incident occurred on Saturday at 3 p.m. EST.
A Florida man has been charged in a Saturday crash in Chattanooga's North Shore that killed two pedestrians. https://t.co/kwZElEC6Ol
— Times Free Press (@TimesFreePress) November 26, 2023
Police said that Vega was driving a Dodge Grand Caravan that collided with a Nissan Titan in the 200 block of Frazier Avenue, the Times Free Press reported. After the collision, the Caravan struck the three pedestrians and then crashed into a building, according to the newspaper.
The Walnut Street Bridge Gift Shop was badly damaged in the crash, the Times Free Press reported.
“It was traumatic, like I was just crying” witness Donna Christian Lowe told WRCB-TV. “Honestly, I just saw a lady on the ground, and the building looked like it was on top of her.
“Next thing we saw was the ambulance or firefighter carrying a small child away.”
“People started running up to the accident trying to help.” another witness, Zachary Centola, told the television station. “It was a lot of glass and a lot of blood.”
Vega was briefly hospitalized and was arrested and booked into the Hamilton County Jail after he was discharged, the Times Free Press reported.
An investigation is ongoing.
