Driver Charged In Crash That Killed Canton Teen

CANTON, GA -- The driver involved in a single-vehicle crash that killed a 16-year-old Canton boy has been charged in connection to the collision. Cameron Tyler Childers, 18, has been charged with vehicular homicide in the first degree, vehicular homicide in the second degree, driving under the influence of drugs, reckless driving, speeding and weaving over the roadway.

Deputies with the Cherokee Sheriff's Office were dispatched around 1:52 p.m. June 19 to the accident, which was reported along Hightower Road just east of Lower Creighton Road near Ball Ground.

A preliminary investigation showed a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck driven by Childers, of Canton, was traveling westbound on Hightower Road when it left the roadway, rolled down an embankment and struck a tree, sheriff's office spokesperson Sgt. Marianne Kelley previously told Patch.

Childers was transported to an area hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. The sheriff's office said the 16-year-old passenger, Mahlon Thornton, also of Canton, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sgt. Kelley told Patch both teenagers were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the collision. According to warrants take out last week by the sheriff's office, investigators determined the truck was traveling about 73 miles an hour in a 55 mile-per-hour speed zone when it collided with the tree. The warrant also states that Childers was allegedly under the influence of marijuana at the time of the collision, which "rendered him a less safe driver."

The warrant also shows the vehicular homicide in the first degree charge is a felony while the five other charges are misdemeanors.

Childers turned himself into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Oct. 27, and was released on a $14,227 bond on the same day.

Photo: Cameron Childers. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff's Office