HABERSHAM COUNTY, Ga. — A Lula woman has been sentenced to 30 years for a 2020 DUI crash that critically injured an 8-year-old Cleveland girl and seriously hurt the child’s mother and older sister.
On Wednesday, October 15, a jury convicted 67-year-old Vickie Craven on four counts of serious injury by vehicle, disregarding a traffic control device, and DUI. The crash happened on November 14, 2020, on GA-365 at Duncan Bridge Road.
Investigators say Craven was driving a northbound Honda Odyssey around 10 p.m. when she ran a red light and hit the side of a Honda Civic driven by a 40-year-old White County woman. Her daughters, ages 8 and 11, were passengers in the vehicle.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene. Habersham EMS transported the mother and her older child to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. AirLife flew the youngest girl to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. At the time of the crash, the 8-year-old was in “extremely critical” condition with two broken femurs and other fractures. She underwent surgery and later stabilized. The mother remained hospitalized and the 11-year-old was treated and released.
Craven was taken to Habersham Medical Center and later charged with multiple offenses connected to the wreck.
Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge B. Nichole Carswell sentenced Craven on Tuesday, October 28, to 30 years, with 10 years to serve in prison and the remainder on probation.
The Georgia State Patrol and the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office investigated, with assistance from the State Patrol’s Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team. Assistant District Attorneys Meredith Davis and Rosanna Szabo prosecuted the case for the state.
