83-year-old Carl Lewis Tidwell of Cartersville turned himself into the Bartow County Jail on Monday morning for homicide by vehicle in the second degree, driving on the wrong side of the roadway, following too closely, and not using a safety belt in a passenger vehicle.
On the morning of September 6th, Tidwell’s white GMC Sierra and a white Toyota Camry were traveling south on Burnt Hickory Road while a white Kia Forte was going north. The southbound Camry stopped to yield to oncoming traffic to turn into a residential driveway off Burnt Hickory Road about a half-mile south of Sugar Valley Road when Tidwell allegedly followed too closely and tried to swerve left to avoid a collision but struck the rear of the Camry, went into the northbound lane, and hit the front of the northbound Forte.
The Georgia State Patrol determined these facts by scrapes, gouges, debris, fluids, yaw marks, driver statements, witness statements, and the vehicles’ final rest.
The Georgia State Patrol Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team is still investigating independently.
MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service took Tidwell and the driver of the northbound Forte, 35-year-old Amber Lee Pitner of Cartersville, to Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center with suspected serious injuries, where Pitner succumbed to her injuries. AirLife Georgia flew the left-side rear passenger of the southbound Camry, a three-year-old girl, to Children’s Scottish Rite Hospital with a suspected serious injury. The driver of the Camry reportedly had a possible injury but did not get a ride to a hospital for treatment.
Carl Tidwell posted a $5,140 bond on Monday morning.