Police: UGA freshman charged with murder in restaurant crash

Flag of Georgia (Photo by Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

SWAINSBORO, Ga. — Police say a University of Georgia freshman whose car plowed into a Taco Bell and killed a woman has been charged with murder.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Swainsboro police Chief Randy J. Ellison says Oliver Baylen Cope of Statesboro also faces four counts of aggravated assault and criminal damage to property in the Sept. 28 crash, which injured several people.

Ellison says the 18-year-old drove his car into the restaurant’s dining area and pinned a child underneath. He says bystanders helped police lift the car off the child.

The chief says five people went to the hospital for injuries and 23-year-old Macy Lynn Mullis died shortly after her arrival.

UGA spokesman Bob Taylor says Cope was enrolled as a freshman majoring in biology.

Swainsboro police and the Georgia State Patrol were still investigating the crash.