South Rome Stop-Sign Crash Kills Motorcyclist, 34, Sends Driver to Jail

A 34-year-old Adairsville man died after his motorcycle collided with a car near Lovejoy Baptist Church in South Rome, and the driver now faces a vehicular homicide charge tied to a stop sign police say she ran through. Demeatrice Deshawn C. Askew was riding a 2007 Kawasaki ZX14 on August 7 when he crashed into a Toyota Corolla driven by 45-year-old Christina Cammon at the intersection of Grover Street and Branham Avenue, and he died as a result of the wreck.

Police said Cammon ran a stop sign at that intersection before the two vehicles collided, according to Coosa Valley News. She was arrested and charged with second-degree vehicular homicide along with the underlying stop-sign violation. The precise location, near a well-known local landmark in South Rome, was detailed further by South 93.5, which reported the collision occurred at the Grover Street and Branham Avenue intersection.

What the Charge Actually Means

Second-degree vehicular homicide under Georgia Code § 40-6-393 is a misdemeanor, applied when a driver unintentionally causes a death by committing a standard traffic violation rather than a more serious offense like DUI, reckless driving, or hit-and-run, per FindLaw. That distinction matters because Georgia's felony vehicular homicide statute is reserved for cases involving those aggravating factors, none of which have been described in connection with Cammon's arrest.

The underlying violation in Cammon's case stems from Georgia Code § 40-6-72, which requires drivers approaching a stop sign to stop at a marked line or before entering the intersection and to yield to any vehicle close enough to pose an immediate hazard, according to FindLaw. A misdemeanor conviction on the vehicular homicide charge carries a maximum of 12 months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, as outlined by the Wetherington Law Firm — far short of the multi-year prison terms tied to felony vehicular homicide convictions.

A Familiar Pattern on Georgia Roads

Askew's death fits into a troubling statewide pattern. Georgia recorded a record 221 motorcyclist fatalities in 2022, with riders making up 18% of all traffic deaths despite being involved in just 1% of total crashes, according to the Piasta Walker Hagenbush law firm. The same data shows riders aged 25 to 34 — Askew's age bracket — represent the demographic with the highest number of fatal motorcycle crash victims in the state.

Right-of-way failures by passenger-vehicle drivers are a recurring factor in these collisions. Roughly 70% of multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes in Georgia involve another driver violating a motorcyclist's right-of-way, most often during turns or failures to yield at intersections, per the Geiger Legal Group. Nationally and statewide, roughly half of all combined fatal and injury traffic crashes happen at or near intersections, a pattern the South Rome crash reflects.

Rural Roads, Longer Response Times

While metro Atlanta accounts for about 42% of all motorcycle crashes in Georgia, non-metro and rural counties see a disproportionately high share of fatal wrecks, driven partly by higher travel speeds and longer emergency response times, according to the Wetherington Law Firm. South Rome sits well outside the metro Atlanta core, placing Askew's death within that broader rural risk pattern.

Memorial arrangements for Askew were placed under the care of F. K. Jones Funeral Home in Rome, according to obituary records published by Echovita. It remains unclear whether Cammon's family or attorneys have issued any public statement, and no information is available yet on whether a civil wrongful death claim will follow the criminal case. Hoodline previously reported on a similar fatal motorcycle-car collision at a Gwinnett County intersection along Stone Mountain Highway crash kills man, underscoring how frequently these intersection collisions recur across the state.