The two-vehicle crash on Ga. 53 occurred near Mauldin Road in Gordon County on Christmas night at about 9:30 p.m.
According to information from the Georgia State Patrol:
A 1996 Ford Bronco being driven by Brent Leighton Lynch, 35, from Calhoun, was eastbound on Ga. 53 when the vehicle drove off the road on the right side, re-entered the roadway and struck a 2006 Kia Spectra head-on. The Kia was being driven by April Nacoale Winters, 40, from Cartersville.
Winters and two passengers in her Kia — Taneka Akey, 21, of Cartersville, and Niyla Akey, who was less than a month old, also of Cartersville — were killed.
Crystal Lynch, 35, a passenger in the Bronco, and two passengers in the Kia — Alexis Gardner, 20, and Ratanza Winters, 20, both of Cartersville — were airlifted to Erlanger Medical Center.
One of the surviving passengers who was six months pregnant had to have an emergency Caesarean section, but the baby later died. Cpl. Jack Lawrence of the GSP declined to name which one of the three victims was pregnant.
Crystal Lynch and Gardner were listed in critical condition, an Erlanger spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon. Ratanza Winters was listed in stable condition.
Brent Lynch, who was treated at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton and released, was booked into the Gordon County jail Wednesday evening.
He was charged with three counts of homicide by vehicle, one count of feticide by vehicle, two counts of serious injury by vehicle, driving under the influence of drugs, failure to maintain lane and driving on the wrong side of the road.
The crash is under investigation by GSP and the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team.
It was a deadly weekend on Georgia’s roads during the Christmas holiday period, which began at 6 p.m. Friday and ended at midnight Tuesday.
The Georgia State Patrol reports 17 people died in wrecks across the state, including a Silver Creek man who died in a one-vehicle crash on Abrams Road in southern Floyd County on Saturday night. Last year, only three people died in wrecks during the Christmas holiday period.
In Saturday’s crash, Michael “Shane” Hann, 30, of Abrams Road, died when the 1968 Chevrolet C-10 he was driving crashed into a tree at about 9:50 p.m. Saturday, according to Gordy Wright, a spokesman with the Georgia State Patrol.
Staff writer Jeremy Stewart contributed to this report