A Gainesville man faces DUI and serious injury charges after a single-vehicle crash late Sunday afternoon in Oakwood that left a passenger seriously injured. About 5:30, a state trooper responded to Meeks Drive at the request of Oakwood Police to investigate a traffic crash.
According to the trooper, a pickup was traveling south on Meeks Drive when the driver, Denver Carrillo, 30, lost control while rounding a curve. The trooper’s report said this caused the truck to leave the roadway and strike a tree head-on.
The injured passenger who was in a front seat, Leonidas Lucas, whose age and hometown were not available, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. An unidentified back-seat passenger sustained minor injuries and was released.
Carrillo was charged with DUI, serious injury by motor vehicle, failure to maintain lane, no seat belt, open container of alcohol, and driving without a license.
The roadway was closed for approximately one hour as a result of the accident.
Another late afternoon DUI crash in that same part of the county on the same day left two people with minor injuries. It happened at Hog Mountain Road and Wade Orr Road. The at-fault driver, according to the investigating state trooper, a 76-year-old Flowery Branch man, “stated he did not remember what happened. After further investigation (though) he was arrested for DUI.”