Driver charged with killing 2 SCDOT workers was on probation, records show

The driver charged with fatally striking two South Carolina highway workers Monday is a convicted felon who was on probation at the time of the collision, according to law enforcement records.

Lonnie Dean Miller, 29, of Augusta, Ga., is charged with two counts of hit-and-run involving death and one count of hit-and-run involving injury, authorities have said. He is charged in the Monday crash in Aiken County that killed two S.C. Department of Transportation workers and injured a third.

A judge on Tuesday denied Miller bond.

Miller was on probation for a 2014 conviction in Richmond County, Ga., for obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery or deception, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation records. He was sentenced to six years probation and a $1,500 fine for the felony charge.

Miller had another conviction in Richmond County in 2011 for possession, manufacture, distribution or sale of marijuana. He was sentenced to three years probation and a $1,000 fine.

Troopers say Miller was driving north on S.C. 421 near North Augusta when his car veered off the right side of the road, striking Tony Redmond and Robert Clark, who were working on the shoulder with a third employee.

Miller fled the scene but later turned himself in at the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, officials said.

He has no prior criminal record in South Carolina, according to the State Law Enforcement Division. A S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson said the agency has no driving record for Miller. The Georgia Department of Driver Services could confirm only that Miller has a valid driver’s license in that state.

However, Augusta station WJBF-TV cited Georgia driving records that show nearly two-dozen offenses for Miller from 2004 to 2016, including hit-and-run, fleeing police and reckless driving in 2004. He also was cited for speeding in a construction zone in 2006 and passing in a no-passing zone in 2015.

This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Driver charged with killing 2 SCDOT workers was on probation, records show."