Manuel Sierra-OrtegaA 28-year-old man from Rocky Face, Georgia, has been charged with second-degree vehicular homicide after he hit a pedestrian with his car in November 2020.
The person he hit – 41-year-old Gina Marie Lamons of Chatsworth – died on Nov. 23 after being airlifted to Erlanger hospital.
The incident happened Nov. 17 at the intersection of Grimes Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Dalton just after 11 a.m. The Dalton Police Department responded to the area where Manuel Sierra-Ortega was standing on the sidewalk near a black 2020 Ford Mustang while Lamons was being tended to by emergency medical personnel.
According to a police incident report, Sierra-Ortega told officers that he thought he had the green light, was making a left-hand turn on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and did not see a pedestrian.
Sierra-Ortega also told police he tried to get out of the car after hitting Lamons but didn’t immediately put his car in park. Officers reported they detected the odor of marijuana as they questioned Sierra-Ortega. The man told police he hadn’t smoked marijuana “for about a week” but said there were small traces of marijuana in the car.