CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Deputies have arrested both individuals who had been described as "persons of interest" in connection with Tuesday morning's school bus wreck in Cherokee County.
Early Tuesday morning, Cherokee County deputies said, a driver in a Honda Accord swiped a school bus head-on on Hightower Road before they said he ran off.
Neither the bus driver nor the one student who was on the bus was hurt when the school bus ran into a ditch on the side of the road. Photos from the incident showed severe damage to the front driver's side of the Honda.
Investigators later said they were looking for two individuals described as "persons of interest" for questioning in connection with the wreck.
Thursday morning, after deputies responded to a suspicious vehicle call on Sparks Lane off of Yellow Creek Road, a resident said she saw what she called a suspicious pickup truck near the end of Sparks Lane and a white female near the truck with a head injury.
Deputies said a white man, later identified by deputies as 22-year-old Jordan Page of Dawsonville, came out of the woods near the truck. Another male, driving an Acura SUV arrived, and all three people got into the SUV and drove off, leaving the pickup truck on Sparks Lane.
After deputies arrived and examined the truck, they were able to determine that it had been stolen from Dawson County.
Later in the morning, deputies received a call indicating that the female was with authorities in Dawson County. When they reached out to speak with her, they discovered that she apparently had been assaulted by Payne in Cherokee County.
Deputies obtained arrest warrants for Payne for charges of aggravated assault by strangulation, kidnapping, two counts of battery, simple battery and simple assault.
On Thursday afternoon, deputies were able to go to a Forsyth County address and take Payne into custody.
Meanwhile, detectives and traffic investigators had obtained enough evidence to obtain warrants for 17-year-old Timothy Kambarl of Dahlonega.
Kimbarl has been charged with failure to maintain lane, driving while license expired, violation of CP license, affixing tag to misrepresent, unregistered vehicle, no insurance, hit-and-run, and theft of motor vehicle.
According to Cherokee County deputies, Kimbarl is suspected of being the driver of the Honda Accord that hit the school bus on Tuesday morning.
Deputies said they believe he ran off after the crash. Kimbarl had injuries to his face. They said he later admitted to driving the Accord. He is also charged with stealing a Chevrolet van after the school bus wreck. That van was recovered in Dawson County on Friday morning.
Kimbarl surrendered to Cherokee County deputies on Friday morning at Cherokee County Sheriff's Headquarters.
Both Kimbarl and Payne are being held at the Cherokee Adult Detention Center. Payne is being held without bond. Kimbarl's bond has been set at $8,495.