Man Killed, Woman Injured After Driver Hits Pair and Flees; Gainesville Woman Charged

A 61-year-old man was killed and a 77-year-old woman seriously injured in a hit-and-run crash late Friday morning on Academy Street.

According to police, Phillip Adams, 61, was being pushed across the roadway in a wheelchair by 77-year-old Linda Tench when both were struck by a vehicle around 11:00 a.m. The pair were in a designated crosswalk when the driver failed to yield and hit them, fleeing the scene without stopping.

Both Adams and Tench were transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in critical condition. Adams later died at the hospital. Tench remains hospitalized in stable condition.

Through the course of the investigation, authorities identified the suspect as 29-year-old Janet Villanueva of Gainesville. Villanueva was arrested and booked into the Hall County Jail on multiple charges, including homicide by vehicle in the first degree, serious injury by motor vehicle, felony hit and run, failure to yield right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, and driver to exercise due regard.