Cartersville Man Indicted On Vehicular Homicide Charge

CANTON, GA — A Cartersville man has been indicted on charges in connection with a fatal accident in October 2017 in northern Cherokee County. A Cherokee County grand jury on Feb. 12 indicted Grady Emery Hardy on one count each of homicide by vehicle in the first degree, reckless driving, speeding, improper passing and failure to maintain lane, court records show.

Hardy was charged following the Oct. 25, 2017, collision reported along Ga. 108 near the Pickens County border. According to the Cherokee Sheriff's office, a GMC Blazer driven by Hardy, who was 45 at the time of his arrest, crossed the double yellow line and side-swiped an Oldsmobile Bravada driven by Canton resident James Michael Scott, 68.

This initial collision caused Scott, who Sgt. Kelley said was not wearing a seatbelt, to lose control of his car and roll down an embankment where he was ejected from the Oldsmobile. Scott later died at Northside Hospital-Cherokee from injuries sustained in the crash (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here).

According to the indictment, Hardy was traveling 71 miles an hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone when the collision occurred. He was booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center and later released after posting a $10,210 bond.

Hardy is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. March 15 in Courtroom 2C at the Frank C. Mills Justice Center in downtown Canton.

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