Man facing relatively serious charges following wreck in front of Walmart

A 33-year-old man with a Greene County address was arrested on Sunday afternoon on a laundry list of charges following a wreck in front of the Walmart shopping center earlier that day.

Carlos Eduardo Cerbantes was booked on four counts of serious injury by vehicle, a felony, as well as well as three counts of DUI – endangering the life of a child, a misdemeanor. Cerbantes later bonded out.

According to Georgia code, a "serious injury by vehicle" conviction equals a minimum one-year sentence in confinement. 

Contrary to some Facebook posts, there were no fatalities recorded during the incident, according to investigators. The accident snarled up northbound traffic on North Columbia Street for several hours.

The incident occurred around 5:30 Sunday afternoon, and the vehicles came to a final rest closer to the Marco's Pizza side of North Columbia Street. According to the Milledgeville Police Department accident report, Cerbantes was driving a maroon Kia Sorrento with six passengers in the vehicle, including three children 13 years old or younger. Four passengers in the vehicle, including all three children, were "taken for treatment" to an area hospital, according to the accident report. 

According to the accident report, "Cerbantes stated he was traveling east on Hillside Drive (coming down the hill from Walmart on the road closest to town) when he entered the intersection on North Columbia and Hillside Drive. Cerbantes stated he was then struck by (a gray Jeep Wrangler) and caused a chain reaction, hitting (a third vehicle, a green Dodge Charger)."

MPD accident report diagram

Added the incident report: "Cerbantes alleges that the brakes on his vehicle failed." 

The driver of the Jeep, however, relayed to officers that Cerbantes' Sorrento "entered the intersection causing her to collide with (the Sorrento)."