Man Fatally Run Over After Golf Ball Hit Mercedes: Police
SANDY SPRINGS, GA — Murder charges have been filed against an Atlanta attorney after a man who was run over in a fatal road-rage case died from his injuries. Fulton County prosecutors say the spark that led to the confrontation was when the victim accidentally threw a golf ball that struck the lawyer’s 2011 Mercedes CLS550.
The driver, identified as Bryan Keith Schmitt, 47, of Sandy Springs, was indicted Aug. 23 by a Fulton County grand jury. According to the indictment, at 5:39 p.m. on July 30, Schmitt, an Atlanta attorney, purposely steered his Mercedes toward Hamid Jahangard, 60, of Atlanta, and struck Jahangard with the car.
Jahangard was taken to an area hospital for treatment. But on Aug. 2, as a result of the injury suffered, Jahangard died at the hospital.
The fatal collision occurred in the driveway of a rental property owned by Jahangard along River Valley Road in Sandy Springs. Schmitt told police that after Jahangard threw something at his car, he made a U-turn and confronted Jahangard, who pushed a trash can at him. “I rolled down my (window) to ask why he’d throw something at my car. He yelled at me to ‘(expletive)! It’s none of your business!'” Schmitt said, according to court documents quoted by WSB. “When I came to stop, he was lying on the other side of the first trash can.”
But investigators say that surveillance camera footage and witnesses contradicted what Schmitt told police.
“Victim walking down driveway, standing at the bottom to the right where the garbage can were. Bryan Schmitt drives by, as he passes the driveway, he hits his brake,” police wrote in charging documents quoted by WSB. “Schmitt pulls back up and remains stationary for 25 seconds. Two cars pass him on the wrong side of the road and he quickly makes a left and starts to accelerate. You can’t see impact. Victim Hamid (Jahangard) is slammed to the ground, head bounces twice off pavement and his body is rotating.”
A neighbor told police she saw Schmitt trying to pull Jahangard’s body from underneath his car. “She stated he was lying and that he did not knock him down. He ran over him,” according to the criminal complaint.
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When emergency personnel arrived, they found Jahangard on the sidewalk near 326 River Valley Road. Sandy Springs Fire and EMS were providing first aid at the scene.
Jahangard was a prominent real estate investor who was a native of Iran. The victim graduated from Walton High School in Cobb County and Georgia Tech.
On Monday, Aug. 12, Schmitt was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. Then on Aug. 23, the Fulton County grand jury indicted Schmitt for the charges of murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.
He was taken into custody at the Fulton County Jail.