A Georgia man has been indicted over the death of his estranged wife, who prosecutors allege was struck by his truck as he pulled away from her home in DeKalb County.
Nelson Clements, 64, faces charges including first-degree vehicular homicide, reckless driving, hit-and-run resulting in serious injury or death, stalking and concealing the death of another.
The charges relate to the death of Janice Frazier Clements, 58, on 21 June. Investigators allege she grabbed the door handle of Clements’ truck as he was leaving her driveway, before he accelerated and ran her over in the street.
Prosecutors further allege that he failed to stop, provide assistance or call emergency services after the incident. The concealment charge forms part of the wider indictment returned by a DeKalb County grand jury.
Clements was arrested on a grand jury warrant on 23 October and remains in DeKalb County Jail without bond, according to jail records.
The case is being handled by the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit and has been assigned to Superior Court Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson. No arraignment or trial date has been set.
Clements’ lawyer, Jackie Patterson, previously described Janice Frazier Clements’ death as a tragic accident in an interview with Atlanta television station WSB-TV. He disputed claims from her family that Clements had been intoxicated and said his client maintained that she was alive after being struck and asked to be taken back inside the house.
Family members have said surveillance footage captured the incident and the events that followed. Those accounts, and the allegations in the indictment, have not been tested in court.
Clements has not been convicted of any offence and will have the opportunity to enter a plea as the case proceeds.
