Crime & Safety
GA House Whip Aims To Quash Reckless Conduct Charge In Bike Death
Attorneys for House Majority Whip Trey Kelley hope to keep him from going to trial for actions connected to a friend's hit-and-run charge.
GEORGIA — Attorneys for a state representative charged with reckless conduct in connection with a hit-and-run death will try to have an indictment against him quashed in a hearing Friday morning.
Republican House Majority Whip Trey Kelley faces the misdemeanor charge for not immediately reporting a 2019 accident that led to the death of Eric Keais, whose bicycle was struck in Cedartown by a friend of Kelley’s. The incident was first reported widely by WXIA-TV in Atlanta.
The hearing represents a procedural move by defense attorneys to have the reckless conduct charge against Rep. Kelley dropped before going to trial. Kelley represents House District 16, which covers much of Bartow, Haralson and Polk counties.
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According to police records and court documents, after Ryan Dover’s SUV hit Keais’s bike on Sept. 11, 2019, Dover drove almost a mile down the road before calling his friend Kelley. Instead of calling 911, Kelley then called Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome, who was off-duty and at home at the time. Newsome responded by sending a sergeant to speak with Kelley and Dover.
By the time the sergeant found Keais, according to court documents, he had been lying in a ditch for an hour after the accident. Keais was pronounced dead 45 minutes later.
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Kelley and Dover were arrested in Dec. 2020 after being indicted by a grand jury. According to WXIA-TV, Kelley’s indictment on a charge of reckless conduct said that his not calling 911 constituted a “gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation.”
Dover was charged with hit and run causing serious injury or death, a felony. He also was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.
Polk Today reports that retired Judge Stephen Schuster of Cobb County will hear the case. Both Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court Judges recused themselves because of possible conflicts of interest.
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