3-year old killed, driver charged with felony DUI in Aiken crash, SC Highway Patrol says
A 3-year-old was killed and one person was arrested following a crash in Aiken County on Wednesday night.
Just after 8 p.m., a 2015 Nissan Ultima was heading west on Salley Road near S.C. 394 when the car drove off the road to the right and hit an embankment, said Cpl. Tyler Tidwell of the Highway Patrol. The car then hit a utility pole and overturned.
The crash killed the car’s only passenger, a 3-year-old that the Aiken County Coroner’s Office has identified as Journi Quattlebaum. An autopsy will be performed in Newberry.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as the child’s mother, 25-year-old Ronesha Quattlebaum of Graniteville, according to the coroner’s office.
Quattlebaum was charged with driving under the influence involving a death, Tidwell said, which is a felony. She was booked at the Aiken County Detention Center.
Quattlebaum is set to receive a bond hearing on Thursday, Tidwell said.
If she is found guilty, she could face a mandatory fine between $10,100 to $25,100 and up to 25 years in prison, according to South Carolina state law.
The incident is still under investigation by Aiken County coroner, the Highway Patrol and the patrol’s Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team, which handles complex crashes involving driving under the influence, severe injury and death.
