Authorities have arrested the 18-year-old driver of a car that crashed on Town Lake Parkway in Woodstock on Jan. 9, killing a Pope High student and another teen, the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.
Oliver Luis Roman of Powder Springs was arrested in connection with the crash that claimed the lives of Pope High junior Gabriel Escandon, 17, of Marietta, and Esteban Cortez-Rendon, 18, an Etowah High student.
According to the sheriff’s office, at about 8:17 p.m. on Jan. 9, deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash on Towne Lake Parkway near Towne Lake Hills East. Authorities report a Mazda 6 with five occupants had left the roadway and struck a tree in the center median.
The three other teens in the car, including Roman, were injured in the crash.
Capt. Jay Baker, spokesperson for the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, said in a news release following the crash it appeared speed was a “contributing factor.”
According to his LinkedIn page, Roman is a student at Hillgrove High School in Powder Springs.