A pedestrian was struck and killed on New Franklin Road in LaGrange early Monday morning, after police were notified at 4:12 a.m. that someone had been hit by a vehicle. The victim, later identified as Delaynee Hachigmai, was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to WRBL, officers and emergency personnel immediately began life-saving measures once they arrived on the scene, but Hachigmai could not be saved. Per the LaGrange Daily News, the crash happened on New Franklin Road just north of North Page Street, and police have notified Hachigmai's next of kin.
Two Police Units Now Investigating
The LaGrange Police Department's Traffic Unit and Criminal Investigations Division are both looking into the collision, the station's report notes, and the investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with additional information has been asked to contact Corporal M. Shaw or Sergeant W. Jones with the Traffic Unit at 706-883-2603.
No details have been released about how the collision happened or whether the driver remained at the scene, and police have not reported any charges or arrests tied to Monday's crash.
A Road With a Painful History
This is not the first fatal pedestrian crash LaGrange has had to grieve on this particular stretch of road. In January 2022, Malia Teague Stillwell, 25, was pronounced dead at the scene after being hit in the 1200 block of New Franklin Road, according to WRBL. In 2024, a hit-and-run crash on the same road killed a 9-year-old boy and injured several others, as reported by the LaGrange Daily News.
A separate fatal pedestrian collision in the 400 block of New Franklin Road also ended with the vehicle initially leaving the scene, according to FOX 5 Atlanta, which reported that two people were later arrested and a third was sought in that case.
A Statewide Pattern of Rising Risk
Monday's fatality also lands amid a troubling statewide trend. Pedestrian fatalities across Georgia rose 90 percent between 2014 and 2023, climbing from 163 deaths to 310, according to data from the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety. The same report found that 83 percent of pedestrian fatalities in 2023 occurred in dark lighting conditions, and nearly three-quarters happened on roads with posted speed limits of at least 45 mph.
Those figures reflect statewide conditions in 2023 and are not specific to LaGrange or New Franklin Road. Still, they underscore the stakes facing investigators as they work to determine what happened before dawn on Monday. LaGrange police have not released further details, and the case remains open.
