A Macon woman was charged last week with felony homicide by vehicle for the death of a man in a May 19, 2023 accident near Stilson.
According to Cpl. Matthew Nelson, supervisor of the Georgia State Patrol Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team (SCRT) out of Troop F, 26-year-old Roneek Janee Solomon of Macon is charged with felony homicide by vehicle in the first degree, two charges of serious injury by vehicle, DUI less safe drugs, driving on wrong side of the roadway, reckless driving, failure to maintain lane and misdemeanor driving while license suspended or revoked.
Michael Middleton was killed in the crash that occurred about 5 a.m. May 19 at the intersection of Woodyard Road and Highway 80 East, just west of the Highway 119 connector in Stilson. Middleton, who was from Waynesboro but living in Statesboro at the time, was 34 at the time of his death.
According to the State Patrol crash report and the Department of Public Safety incident report, Solomon was traveling west on Highway 80 with two passengers when her 2015 Nissan Altima crossed the center line and crashed head on into a 2012 Toyota Camry heading east being driven by Middleton.
Middleton was killed on impact, according to the report, and the lone passenger in his vehicle was seriously injured. The passenger in the front seat of Solomon’s Altima also was seriously injured, but Solomon and the backseat passenger did not sustain significant injuries.
The two seriously injured passengers later recovered.
Trooper James Turner said in the Public Safety report that he interviewed Solomon at East Georgia Regional Medical Center after she was taken there following the accident.
In the report, Solomon told Turner that she was having an argument with the passenger in the back seat. She said the man began hitting her and yelling at her right before the accident occurred.
Due to the fatality and serious injuries that resulted from the crash, Solomon agreed to a voluntary blood test. Toxicology results were finalized Sept. 13 and indicated THC, which provides the psychoactive effect in marijuana, was present in her blood stream.
“While the case is pending in the courts, I cannot say specifically what was in the final SCRT report,” Nelson said. “But to qualify for a first-degree vehicular homicide felony charge, you have to have either reckless driving or DUI as violations and Ms. Solomon is charged with both of those.”
The penalty for felony vehicular homicide is up to 15 years in prison and a large fine.
Solomon was arrested Dec. 20 in Macon and booked into the Bulloch County Jail on Dec. 21.