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Man charged in fatal wreck
Police: Man had, was under influence of meth
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0912WRECKFOLOAUD

Hear witnesses calls to 911 reporting the wreck. There is a brief pause between clips.

Moments before the white truck Andrew Jason Grier was driving crossed the center line of Browns Bridge Road and caused a fatal, multiple-vehicle collision on the morning of Aug. 18, someone called his employer to report his reckless driving, according to recordings provided by Hall County.

The wreck, which occurred shortly after 9 a.m. that day, resulted in the death of 16-year-old Alicia Mote and caused multiple other injuries.

“And you know what —what’s funny? The car that caused the wreck, I just called the company (to report) that he was recklessly driving. He was the one that caused the wreck,” the caller, who identified himself as Daniel, told a dispatcher.

Gainesville police say Grier, a 33-year-old Gainesville resident, was under the influence of and possessed methamphetamine when he caused the wreck in a 2009 F-150 owned by his employer, Gainesville Mechanical, according to Lt. Brian Kelly.

Grier now faces seven charges related to the collision, including first-degree vehicular homicide. He was booked into the Hall County Jail on the charges Sept. 1 and posted a $39,000 bond Wednesday, according to a clerk at the Hall County Jail.

The wreck shut down the Gainesville artery for nearly two hours while police and emergency crews worked the scene. Seven people were injured. One of them, 16-year-old Mote, later died of her injuries.

Mote was riding in a Ford Escort headed east on Browns Bridge Road with her parents, 39-year-old James Daniel Mote and 35-year-old Jennifer Dawn Mote, when their car was struck by Grier’s westbound pickup truck. Grier’s truck then rolled over, striking a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country van driven by Elaine Daughters, 48, of Cumming, Kelly said.

Grier’s truck continued rolling, striking a utility pole and coming to a stop off the roadway.

Before it hit the utility pole, debris from Grier’s truck struck a 2001 Nissan Maxima driven by Jordan Buchannan, 18, of Gainesville, Kelly said.

Daughters and Buchannan were traveling east, behind Mote’s car, at the time of the accident. All involved, including Grier and Daughters’ 77-year-old mother Ellen Schwaemmle of Dawsonville, were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center for treatment.

Grier has been charged with driving too fast for conditions, failure to maintain lane, serious injury by vehicle, reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs, possession of methamphetamine and first-degree vehicular homicide.

Police are awaiting the result of a toxicology test of Grier’s blood. Gainesville Mechanical did not respond to a message seeking comment from The Times.