3 indicted, including 2 parents, in drunk driving crash that killed high school student
Three people have been indicted over an alleged drunk driving crash in Georgia that killed a high school student in February -- including parents accused of letting the teens drink before the crash.
Sumanth and Anindita Rao, who are 50 and 49 respectively, face charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and maintaining a disorderly house, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced in a press conference Wednesday.
The car's driver, 18-year-old Hannah Hackemeyer, faces numerous charges, including vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol under the age of 21.
On Feb. 24, Hackemeyer crashed a car after drinking alcohol at the Raos' home, police said. She and the Raos' teen daughter, Ananya, were able to crawl out of the flipped vehicle, but a third passenger, 18-year-old Sophia Lekiachvili, was trapped in the front passenger seat.
Lekiachvili was transported to the hospital, where she died of her injuries, according to police.
Hackemeyer had allegedly been driving more than 60 miles per hour over the speed limit when she crashed, and had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.046, more than twice the legal limit for a person under 21, police said.
According to Boston, the three teenagers had spent the evening leading up to the crash at the Raos' home, where they drank wine, allegedly "in plain view of Ananya’s parents."
Shortly before midnight, they allegedly told Sumanth Rao they wanted to go for a drive, Boston said.
"Ananya's parents knew the girls had been drinking, but they still let them get into a car and leave the house with an open bottle of wine in the front seat," Boston said. "Less than 30 minutes later, a little more than a half mile away, that decision would prove deadly."
Boston alleged that allowing the teens to drink was "not an anomaly" at the home of the Raos, who she said had a "long-standing, repeated pattern of allowing teenagers to drink in their home."
"The Raos' home was the party house where teens could freely consume alcohol without interference from the adults who lived there -- the adults who should have accepted responsibility," Boston said. "It is a miracle that nothing happened prior to Feb. 24."
Lekiachvili's death was a "foreseeable consequence" of the Raos' alleged permissiveness with teen drinking in their home, Boston said.
"As a prosecutor and a mother of two teenage daughters, I have never seen a more egregious disregard for safety and well-being of young people as I have in this case," Boston said.
Attorney information for Hackemeyer and the Raos was not immediately available.
