Woman charged with vehicular homicide for Murray County crash

Aug. 15—A Dallas, Georgia, woman has been charged with failure to obey a stop sign or yield after stopping and misdemeanor second-degree homicide by vehicle for a May wreck in Murray County that left a Texas man dead.

Tara Diana Little, 38, of 324 Harris Loop, was charged Thursday by the Murray County Sheriff's Office.

The wreck happened on May 7 around 5:49 p.m. at the intersection of Highway 136 and Old Highway 411, according to a Georgia State Patrol motor vehicle crash report.

According to the report, Little was traveling south on Old Highway 411 in a 2018 Dodge Journey. Michael John Maldonado, 60, of Buda, Texas, was traveling east on Highway 136 on a 2017 Kawasaki Z900 motorcycle. The report said Little "failed (to) yield after stopping at the stop sign, entering (the motorcycle's) lane of travel." The motorcycle struck the Journey on the right passenger side with its right side.

"After impact, (the Journey) continued to travel approximately 30 feet southbound across (Highway) 136," the report said. "(The motorcycle) began to rotate counterclockwise before it overturned on its right side. (The) area of impact was in the roadway, determined by tire marks, gouge marks, scrape marks, debris, driver statements and both vehicles' final rest. After impact, (the Journey) came to a controlled rest near the shoulder facing south. (The motorcycle) came to a(n) uncontrolled rest in the eastbound lane of (Highway) 136 facing north."

The report said Maldonado was pronounced dead at the scene. Little and two juvenile females in the Journey were taken to AdventHealth Murray.

The report said Little "stated she stopped at the stop sign, as she was in the roadway her daughter screamed, then the impact occurred." She "provided a voluntary blood test. No witnesses to the accident were available."

A followup report said the tests came back negative for both alcohol and drugs.