Jalen Carter Facing Charges in Connection With Racing in Fatal Georgia Crash
There is an arrest warrant out for Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter in connection to a fatal January crash that killed two members of the Bulldogs’ football program, according to the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
Carter, who was in attendance at the NFL combine Tuesday, is charged with reckless driving and racing. The charges are misdemeanors, the police department told Sports Illustrated.
On the morning of Jan. 15, offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy were killed in a car crash that injured two other passengers. Though initially thought to be a single-car crash, police now believe Carter and LeCroy were racing before the early-morning incident.
At the beginning of the investigation, Carter told police that he was nearly a mile away from the car when the crash happened, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. However, he later said he was close enough to see the car’s taillights and acknowledged he was alongside the other car.
The investigation found that LeCroy and Carter “were operating their vehicles in a manner consistent with racing shortly after leaving the downtown Athens area at about 2:30 AM,” according to the ACCPD. Police also said the two drivers engaged in reckless driving, including switching between lanes, driving in opposite lanes of travel and driving at high rates of speed “in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other.”
Police said LeCroy’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.197 at the time of the incident, and investigators determined “that alcohol impairment, racing, reckless driving and speed were significant contributing factors to the crash.”
After the news was the warrant was made public, Georgia coach Kirby Smart released a statement.
“The charges announced today are deeply concerning, especially as we are still struggling to cope with the devastating loss of two beloved members of our community,” he said. “We will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities while supporting these families and assessing what we can learn from this horrible tragedy.”
It’s unclear how negatively NFL teams will view the situation in terms of Carter’s draft stock. Two executives who spoke to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer about Carter at the NFL combine on the condition of anonymity said it almost certainly will have some effect.
One general manager told Breer that although Carter remained on his draft board, the incident would at minimum lead to a conversation about whether he should stay there. The GM said he believed some teams would take him off their boards.
Another team executive went further, telling Breer that this isn’t the first red flag in regard to Carter.
“There were concerns before any of this—I don’t know the details on this one, only that it’s pretty bad,” said an AFC college scouting director. “Before this, he had a reputation as someone who was never particular fond of the process. A lot of the questions were like, well, there’s nothing criminal, but he may not really love anything about football other than gameday. Now, you can’t really say there’s nothing criminal.”
