Man charged in hit-and-run death of 18-month-old in Ellijay, Ga.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

photo Jordan Allen Hyde

Police in Ellijay, Ga., arrested a Talking Rock, Ga., man who they say ran over and killed an 18-month-old boy.

On Friday, according to a news release from the police department, the father of Noah Pinson had been playing with the boy at the Gilmer County River Park, located at 1561 S. Main St. When he was preparing to leave, the father placed the boy's stroller in his van.

Ellijay Police Chief Edward Lacey said the boy was in the parking lot while his father put the stroller away, and that is when a Ford Fusion drove by, running over the man's son. The father wasn't able to give much of a description of the vehicle or the driver after taking his son to the North Georgia Medical Center.

But, Lacey said, police began asking other law enforcement about a Ford Fusion, and a Gilmer County Sheriff's investigator told the Ellijay Police Department that one of his suspects for an unrelated, financial fraud case drove a car matching the victim's father's description.

Lacey said police tried to track him down to his address in Talking Rock, but when they got there "we were led" to a home in Waleska, Ga. There, members of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office arrested 26-year-old Jordan Allen Hyde on Friday on charges of leaving the scene of a crash and causing serious injuries with a vehicle.

Hyde was later released on a $6,000 bond. However, after Pinson died Sunday evening, the Gilmer County Sheriff's Office arrested Hyde again, this time on warrant for a financial transaction card and theft -- the crimes that led the Ellijay police to Hyde in the first place.

The Ellijay police then charged Hyde with vehicular homicide, and the Georgia State Patrol charged him with DUI.

Hyde remained at the Gilmer County Jail without bond Wednesday. He has a bond hearing scheduled for next Tuesday.