Grandma left dead in road after 2 separate drivers hit her and flee, Georgia cops say

Two separate drivers struck a woman crossing the street and left her to die in the road, Georgia police said.

Now, two are charged in the death of 55-year-old Linda Powell, according to an Oct. 23 news release from the Brookhaven Police Department.

Powell was crossing a road Oct. 19 when she was struck by two separate, unrelated vehicles, police said.

A spokesperson for the Brookhaven Police Department told McClatchy News that Powell was not in a crosswalk when she was struck just before 7 a.m., and the second vehicle hit her “within seconds of the first.”

When officers responded to multiple calls about the incident, Powell was dead and both drivers were gone, according to the release.

Using nearby surveillance footage and information from witnesses, police said they identified the suspected vehicles involved in the crash.

Four days after the incident, Koechiesta Smith, 51, and Hugo Valente, 21, were arrested on a charge of felony hit-and-run, police said.

Powell’s family describes her as “a very lively person with a heart of gold” in a fundraiser for funeral expenses.

Powell’s daughter Amanda Whitaker told WSB-TV she waited days to hear about the arrests of the men accused in the crashes.

“Not because he hit her, because that genuinely was an accident, but because he left her like she was garbage on the side of the road ... you can’t do that to somebody,” Whitaker told WSB-TV.

A woman who called Powell her cousin said she was crossing the street to get to her bus stop that morning when she was struck.

“She would spend an entire day cooking meals and then taking food to the homeless people around Atlanta,” her family wrote. “She adored her grandchildren and was maternal to everyone that was fortunate enough to know her. She lived her life helping others and worrying about everyone she loved.”

Both men were taken to the DeKalb County jail. Attorney information is not available in court records.

Police said additional charges may be filed as the investigation continues.

Brookhaven is 10 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

This story was originally published October 24, 2023 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Grandma left dead in road after 2 separate drivers hit her and flee, Georgia cops say."