In DeKalb County, a Grand Jury handed down indictments for three individuals tied to a car crash that resulted in the death of 18-year-old high school student, Sophia Lekiachvili. Hannah Hackemeyer, also 18, faces serious charges including three counts of Homicide by Vehicle in the First Degree in connection with the February incident.
Anindita Rao and Sumanth Rao, parents of another teen involved in the crash, have been charged with Involuntary Manslaughter among other counts. Hackemeyer allegedly drove under the influence at speeds significantly above the limit, the car’s technical data revealed, trauma ensued speedily and irreversibly, as DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston's office reported. The Rao couple hosted the evening where underage drinking took place.
On the night of February 24, the responding officers from the DeKalb County Police Department found an overturned Mazda CX-5 with Hackemeyer and another passenger, Ananya Rao, able to escape, while the third passenger, Lekiachvili, was trapped and subsequently died from the sustained injuries post-crash. Forensics back at the scene unraveled a narrative of excessive speed and a failure to brake as complicit factors in this tragedy.
The investigation uncovered a Blood Alcohol Concentration of 0.046 in Hackemeyer's system, over twice Georgia's legal limit for an individual under 21. The evening in question began at the Rao residence, with the teens' alcohol consumption out in the open—a detail obtained by the office of DA Boston. It was reported that the parents had also permitted such behavior on other occasions. The teens drove off late that night with an open wine bottle in hand and with the implicit consent of the Rao household.
"This crash was a foreseeable consequence of allowing underage drinking in their home and worse—allowing someone who they knew had consumed alcohol—to drive," DA Boston said in a statement obtained by the District Attorney's Office.
