A teenage driver was sued and now faces criminal charges after she was involved in a car crash while allegedly using the speed filter on Snapchat.
Clayton County, Georgia, law enforcement officials issued four warrants for Christal McGee, the driver, on June 1, CNN reported. The charges include causing serious injury by vehicle, a felony. She was charged with three misdemeanors, including driving too fast for conditions, reckless driving, and speeding, officials said.
“As of right now she is still showing [as] wanted on our computer system,” Solicitor General Tasha Mosley told CNN.
Lovejoy police Chief Mark Harris told WSB-TV heavy media coverage surrounding the lawsuit led to the warrant for her arrest. “Had we known about this earlier, we would have probably come to this conclusion earlier in the investigation,” Harris said.
McGee was allegedly driving more than 100 mph while using Snapchat’s speed filter when she crashed into another car. She’s denied the claims.
Another driver, Wentworth Maynard, was seriously injured and suffered brain injuries. Maynard said he and his family are suing McGee and Snapchat to help pay his medical bills.
His lawyers sent out a photo that they claimed McGee posted after the crash. It shows her bleeding on a gurney, and it is captioned: “Lucky to be alive.”
Snapchat has denied the claims in the lawsuit.
“Snapchat contends that the Activity Logs demonstrate that McGee was not in fact using the Snapchat Application at the time of or immediately prior to the collision,” a joint filing read.
But three of McGee’s passengers reported she was actually using Snapchat and was going 100 mph during the time of the crash, Harris told WSB-TV.
“The main thing I would like to see out of her is that she understand what she was doing was wrong, and, based on her doing wrong, what kind of injuries she caused to innocent persons,” Harris said.
