Truck Driver Faces 8 Vehicular Homicide Charges After Deadly Georgia Crash That Wiped Out Entire Family

A Georgia truck driver has been charged in one of the state’s deadliest highway crashes in recent memory — a “chain reaction” pileup that killed eight members of a single family and an unborn child.

Authorities say 33-year-old Kane Aaron Hammock of Gainesville was behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer Monday morning when he slammed into a van on Interstate 85 in Jackson County. The impact triggered a devastating six-vehicle collision that brought northbound traffic to a standstill and left nine dead.

According to WAGA-TV, Hammock faces multiple charges: eight counts of vehicular homicide in the second degree, feticide by vehicle, distracted driving, following too closely, and operating a vehicle without a valid plate — all misdemeanor offenses.

A Family Wiped Out

The van that Hammock struck burst into flames, killing everyone inside — a grandmother, her pregnant daughter, the daughter’s partner, and five young children. Atlanta News First reported the victims were identified as Kenia Ramirez, her partner Darwin Ventura, their child Kayle, and Kenia’s mother Sonia Maribel Ramirez, along with children Justin, Andy, Natali, and Evan, aged between 2 and 16. Kenia was pregnant at the time of her death.

Witness Mike Rullan, who survived the collision, described the horror to the New York Post:

“I can’t even describe the violence of the impact. It was so unexpected. It was definitely carnage. The way I saw it, it covered the entire interstate.”

Chain Reaction Chaos

The Georgia State Patrol confirmed Hammock’s truck, which was carrying chicken feed, triggered the sequence of crashes. The inferno that followed destroyed several vehicles and claimed nearly an entire family spanning three generations.

Animals Caught in the Wreck

In a tragic twist, Furkids Animal Rescue and Shelter revealed that one of the vehicles involved was a van transporting 37 rescued cats from Georgia to Vermont. The driver was injured, and five cats remain missing.

As investigators work to piece together the full sequence of events, questions are mounting about what caused the 33-year-old trucker to lose control — and whether stricter enforcement of distracted driving laws could have prevented this unspeakable tragedy.