MABLETON, Ga. — Cobb County Police have identified 60-year-old Artie Dumas as the pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run incident Monday night. Two days later, the driver turned himself in.
His nephew, Terry Jones, found out when police called him Tuesday afternoon.
"It’s devastating to learn that your relative was just left laying in the street, with no more value than an animal," Jones said while trying to hold back tears. "It’s just really sad that had the person stopped and stayed, we’d be talking about a totally different scenario."
According to the department, it happened around 10:30 p.m. at Floyd Road and Maran Lane in Mableton.
By Wednesday afternoon, a cross and evidence paint marked the spot Dumas was hit.
“I want the person who did it to know that we’re not upset that Artie was involved in an accident," Jones added. "We’re upset by the fact that you merely left him lying in the street like an animal. It’s just a very cowardly act.”
Cobb County Police say Dumas was crossing Floyd Road outside the marked crosswalk. But his friend, who says she had just been with Dumas moments before, says that’s unlike him.
“'Stay on the crosswalk,' is what he’d always tell me," the friend, who wanted to remain anonymous, said.
She said he was on the crosswalk and she nearly hit herself. Dumas was struck, then out of sight.
"But I knew what had happened when I heard it," she said.
Jones said people were there when the crash happened - and saw the driver.
"Eyewitnesses have stated that (the driver) got out of the vehicle, looked at Artie, got back in the vehicle, and drove away," Jones added.
On Wednesday, Cobb County Police said 30-year-old Kristopher Johnson turned himself in. Police are still investigating the crash, they said.
This is the second pedestrian fatality in two days in the metro Atlanta area.
Dekalb County Police are also looking for the driver of a separate deadly hit-and-run near I-85. That one occurred just before midnight near Chamblee Tucker Road.
Deaths like this one have increased more than 40% in three years in the state and more than 4% from 2021 to 2022, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Rebecca Serna with Propel ATL is fighting for safer streets so that families like Jones' are spared the pain.
“Georgia is one of the 10 deadliest states for people walking within the City of Atlanta," Serna said. "In Georgia, we have a lot of streets that are high speed and high traffic and the crosswalks are third to a half a mile apart. Even traffic engineers won't walk a mile out of their way to cross the street. So we have to design streets that are safer for people to be able little cross.”
Jones brought his daughters, including 9-year-old Alivia, who also love and know Dumas, to the intersection to pay their respects.
“I didn’t want him to go as soon as he did. I didn’t know he would go that soon. I just wanted to see him double time before I turned double digits," Alivia said.