A driver was killed Sunday night when the vehicle they were driving left a roadway and hit a mobile home in Buford, injuring the people inside, according to Gwinnett County police.
Master Police Officer Hideshi Valle said Jordan Gonzalez was driving west on Horizon Parkway when he was unable to stay on the road as he was approaching Boulder Way. The intersection is located in the Countryside of Gwinnett mobile home community.
Gonzalez's vehicle went into the front yard of a mobile home on Boulder Way and hit a tree before slamming into another mobile home located down the street. The police department's Accident Investigation Unit is handling the investigation into the accident. Valle said in addition to the car's collision with the mobile home, debris from the vehicle and the tree also hit three vehicles that were parked in the driveway of the second mobile home.
When Gwinnett County Police Chief J.D. McClure saw the video of Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols, it stirred feelings he had not felt in more than 30 years.
McClure said the video of Nichols being beaten and sustaining injuries that he later died from shocked and upset him.
When was the last time he felt that upset over a video from a police beating? It was the video of Los Angeles police beating Rodney King in 1991 — although McClure said the Nichols video was worse. McClure, along wit other law enforcement personnel discussed issues facing law enforcement and how they have tried to make inroads in the community during the panel at the Gas South District Speakers series. Fox 5 anchor Courtney Bryan moderated the panel discussion. The panel discussed tools, such as an ATF database that Gwinnett police have used to help discover links between gun-wielding people they have arrested and crimes in other states, as well as outreach efforts to young people — such as the Sheriff’s Cup football game — to try prevent kids from being lured into joining gangs.
But, the event was held weeks after the death of Nichols, with news about Memphis police officers being fired and charged with crimes stemming from the incident coming out since then. Near the end of the panel discussion, Bryant asked the panelists about the Nichols case. GBI Director Michael Register stated that it angered him, and that few get more angry about seeing police brutality than those who have to get up and put on the uniform the next day and try to rebuild the trust in police that has been eroded. McClure offered an apology despite the incident happening in Memphis, and talked about how these officers actions undermined the trust that police have tried to rebuild nationwide in light of various police brutality issues.
Georgia lawmakers want to increase the sentence for gang recruitment activities as part of a tough-on-crime push under the Gold Dome this legislative session.
A new state Senate bill would increase the penalties for recruiting someone to join a gang or participate in gang activity through mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines that judges would have to follow in most cases.
Sponsored by Senator Bo Hatchett Senate Bill 44 has the backing of Governor Brian Kemp and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. The bill requires judges to impose at least a five-year prison sentence for violation of the law. If the person who has been recruited to the gang is under 17 years of age or has a disability, the mandatory minimum penalty is steeper — at least 10 years for the first offense.
The legislation provides some exceptions to the mandatory minimum sentences, including if the accused has not already been convicted of a felony or if the judge decides that “the interests of justice will not be served.” It also provides an exception to the minimum sentencing rules if the accused helps with identifying and convicting other gang members.
Not everyone agrees that the bill’s sentences for gang recruitment would help solve Georgia’s crime problem.
Senate Democrats would prefer to reduce the number of guns on the street in Georgia and increase community investments in mental health and violence-prevention programs, according to a legislative agenda released Tuesday. The bill has a strong shot of success in what has been a slow start to the legislative session. Twenty-two Senate Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors.
The top-seeded Georgia Gwinnett College men’s tennis team couldn’t capitalize on early victories in suffering a 4-3 loss to Number 2 seed Keiser University of Florida in a down-the-wire final of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s inaugural NAIA Indoor Championship on Sunday night in Overland Park, Kansas.
The loss ends the Grizzlies’ historic 173-match winning streak, which had been the longest active winning streak in collegiate sports and the history of collegiate tennis. Those winning ways spanned seven undefeated seasons and dual matches since April 3, 2015.
On the women’s side, The Georgia Gwinnett College women’s tennis team valiantly fought to the bitter end, nearly completing a dramatic singles comeback in a 4-3 loss to Keiser University during Sunday’s championship match of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s inaugural NAIA Indoor Championship.
The finale featured a matchup of the NAIA’s top two teams, which also happened to be the top two seeds in the weekend tournament. Sunday’s loss ended the Grizzlies’ 63-match winning streak, dating back to March 27, 2019.
The two teams look to start new winning streaks this weekend. The GGC women will host Emory at the GGC Tennis facility on Saturday, while the men will be hosting The Citadel.
Gwinnett Technical College recently named Amber Walden, Humanities Program Director, the school's Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year.
Walden, who was born and raised in Gwinnett County, now lives in Lawrenceville. She is an active member of the local arts scene and is currently organizing and developing a L.A.R.P. (or live-action role play) organization. Walden said she discovered her love of teaching during a graduate assistantship and quickly found that she loved teaching. Her passion, she said, is helping students to learn, grow, achieve, and succeed. The Rick Perkins Award for Excellence in Technical Instruction began in 1991 and is designed to recognize and honor technical college instructors who contribute significantly to technical education through innovation and leadership in their fields.
Less than two weeks after stepping down at Parkview, Eric Godfree is a Gwinnett head football coach again.
Godfree was announced Tuesday as the head coach at North Gwinnett, where he replaces the outgoing Bill Stewart. Stewart left North to become an analyst on the Georgia Tech football coaching staff.
Godfree accepted the North job when he resigned from Parkview, but the two sides couldn’t make the hire official until Tuesday when the Gwinnett County Public Schools’ school-to-school transfer window opened. Before taking the North job, Godfree had deep ties to Parkview, his alma mater. He was a Parkview assistant from 1999-2003 and spent the last nine seasons as head coach of the Lilburn school, going 70-37. He won two region titles in that span and led three of his teams to the state quarterfinals, including one Final Four team.
Parkview features a large number of Georgia’s top underclassmen recruits and figures to be one of the state’s top teams next season, but Godfree couldn’t pass up the opportunity at North. Godfree, a 1994 Parkview grad who played college football at Presbyterian, spent 10 years as head coach at Loganville before being hired at Parkview to replace legendary coach Cecil Flowe. His wife, Jenell, was formerly head volleyball coach at Parkview, and his daughters Jordan (a 2021 Parkview grad) and Brooke (a Parkview senior) played volleyball at the school. The couple’s youngest child, son Jacob, is a rising ninth-grader who plays football.
While Godfree said he wasn’t looking to leave Parkview when North reached out, the timing works out well for his family with his middle daughter graduating Parkview in May and his son entering high school in August.
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