ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A teen driver is facing charges in connection to a deadly Alpharetta crash that took the lives of two University of Georgia freshmen and a high school senior, according to jail records.
Rithwak Somepalli was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Wednesday. He is facing reckless driving and three vehicular homicide charges.
The single-car crash happened on May 14 on Westside Parkway just north of Maxwell Road. Alpharetta police said Somepalli lost control. The impact flipped the car over, killing three of the five people inside. Everyone involved was just 18-years-old.
Anvi Sharma and Sriya Avasarala were killed in the crash and had just finished their freshman year at the University of Georgia. The other teen killed was Aryan Joshi, a senior at Alpharetta High School set to graduate next Thursday.
According to a police report, a witness on the scene estimated that the vehicle was going anywhere from 80 to 90 mph. He added that when the car lost control, it swerved into a tree.
The car's front-seat passenger, Mohammed Liyakath, who was also injured that night, was able to provide police with a statement saying Rithwak gradually began driving faster until it struck the center divider and began to lose control.
The police report also states that crash data indicated the car reached speeds between 87 to 94 mph.
The recent arrest occurred after the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety investigation in late May.
People in the neighborhood previously expressed their concerns about the speeding down Westside Parkway. They said as the area grows, so does traffic.
11Alive obtained data over the last three years for the area around Westside Parkway, near the crash scene, to gain more insight into the incidents to which police are responding.
Data shows police responded to 145 speeding incidents in the area since 2021. The highest recorded speed was tracked in 2021 at 74 miles per hour in a 40 miles per hour zone. Police have investigated 73 crashes and motor vehicle accidents in the area in the last three years.
According to court records, Somepalli's first appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.