Georgia Rep. Kelley must face suit over friend’s fatal hit-and-run, judges say

The complaint alleges Dover, whose vehicle had extensive damage, kept driving and ignored the severely injured rider and his nearby crumpled bicycle. Dover failed to call 911 and instead called Kelley, an attorney and friend serving as a state representative and, at the time, the solicitor in Cedartown Municipal Court, according to the suit.

The bicyclist’s father, Manfred Keais, alleged Kelley met Dover at a gas station before the pair returned to the crash scene, where Kelley also failed to call 911 and instead called a senior partner at his law firm as well as Cedartown Police Chief James Newsome.

Newsome failed to call 911 or otherwise notify dispatch, and the bicyclist lay gravely injured in the ditch for more than an hour before emergency medical services were called by a Cedartown police officer Newsome had sent to the scene, Manfred Keais claimed. His son died that night in a hospital, case records show.

Last June, Judge David Smith in Polk County Superior Court granted Kelley’s request to dismiss the claims against him, finding Kelley had no legal duty to render aid to the bicyclist. That was wrong, the appellate panel ruled Wednesday in its reversal.

“Keais can introduce facts within the framework of his complaint to show that Kelley undertook Dover’s statutory duties to report the accident and render aid, he was negligent in performing those duties, and that Kelley’s actions caused Eric’s death,” Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey Davis wrote in the opinion.

Kelley and his lawyers in the case did not respond Thursday to questions about the ruling. In his argument to the appellate court, Kelley said he was “merely a friend called after the collision.”

The former House majority whip was indicted in December 2020 on a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct in relation to the incident. The charge was dismissed a year later by a senior superior court judge.

Kelley, in office since January 2013, is up for reelection in November against Democratic challenger Diana Spangler.

He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2020 he did not initially know Dover had hit a person and said he “fully cooperated with law enforcement.”

His request to end the civil claims against him described what happened to Eric Keais as a tragedy, “but one that Mr. Kelley did not cause, conspire to cause, or play any role whatsoever in causing.”

“All claims against Mr. Kelley, who was at home and not anywhere near the scene of this accident when it occurred, lack any basis in law or fact and should be dismissed,” the 2023 filing said.

Dover was charged with hit-and-run resulting in serious injury or death as well as reckless conduct, court records show. He was found guilty of both charges in July 2023 and sentenced to five years in prison. Dover was released on parole last July, the Georgia Department of Corrections reports.

Attempts to contact Dover were unsuccessful Thursday. He is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, alongside Kelley and Newsome, but has not participated in the litigation and does not have an attorney on record in the case.

Newsome, still the police chief in Cedartown, did not respond Thursday to questions about the case. He had asked the appeals court to overturn the Polk judge’s decision last June to keep the claims against him alive.

On Wednesday, the appellate judges largely upheld the ruling that denied Newsome’s request to dismiss the claims against him.

Newsome had challenged the way Manfred Keais filed the suit in Polk County in April 2023, after an initial version of the complaint was filed in federal court two years before. U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen ended the federal claims in a way that allowed the case to be refiled in state court.

Manfred Keais’ attorney did not respond Thursday to an inquiry.