Georgia Driver Charged After Tire Allegedly Flies Off His Truck, Kills Woman Walking Dog

A Georgia man faces charges in the death of a 22-year-old woman named Kimberly Touchton, who was killed while walking her dog in what police are describing as a freak accident. 

Lt. Kent Bankston with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia said they received a call about an unresponsive person late Sunday night, according to local television station WMAZ-TV. Investigators identified the person as Touchton, who was walking her dog earlier that evening when a tire somehow came loose from a truck allegedly belonging to Brian Seth Carmichael, 25.

Carmichael was driving on an overhead bridge about 400 yards away from the area where Touchton was walking her dog, near a trailer park. The tire somehow came loose and flew off both Carmichael's truck and off the bridge, before hitting Touchton, police officials told The Macon Telegraph.

When the woman's dog came home without her, Touchton's fiancé went out to look for her — and found her unresponsive on the side of the road. 

Bankston said it was likely Touchton was dead before she even knew what was happening.

“It severed her spine,” Bankston said, according to The New York Post. “It broke her neck and although they did attempt life-saving measures out there on the scene, she was dead when they got to the hospital. I don’t think she even knew what hit her.”

The area where Touchton was walking her dog is not well lit, and is located in a ravine below the road's elevation, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

While investigators probed the scene of Touchton's death, they found an abandoned pickup truck just up the road with a front tire missing and soon drew a connection to Carmichael.

Police were also assisted by an anonymous tip claiming that Carmichael had feared he "had hit something" while driving his car, according to The New York Post.

Investigators allege that Carmichael called a friend to pick him up and may have been aware that his tire hit a person, the Telegraph reports. Bankston also said that police had "reason to believe" Carmichael had even seen Touchton after his tire hit her, but did not elaborate further, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

Police soon issued a warrant for his arrest and he turned himself in to police on Monday. Carmichael is free on a $2,600 bond.

Despite the charges brought against Carmichael, police stressed that this was a "freak accident."

“I’ve been doing this for 33, 34 years and this is probably one of the most, if not the most freak accident I’ve ever seen," Bankston told The Post.