Special to the WJH
BRUNSWICK — Glynn County authorities said Olivia Latishia Snipes has gained excessive weight in the time since a crash in February 2021 on Altama Avenue in Brunswick, which left her crippled and killed the man riding in the vehicle with her.
Wanted on a warrant for vehicular homicide, Glynn County Sheriff’s Office deputies booked Snipes Thursday, a process conducted entirely at her mother’s home in Waycross, county undersheriff Mario Morales said.
After the booking process at the home at 801 Eades Street in Waycross, Snipes, 32, was released on her own recognizance and a $6,058 bond, jail records show. Snipes’ family members took care of the $6,058 bond from the home, Morales said.
A Glynn County Magistrate judge provided the necessary bonding papers, which county sheriff’s office deputies Risa McQueen and Michelle Scott served in a procedure conducted at the home, he said.
Bound to a wheel chair and weighing more than 300 pounds, it was not feasible to transport her in a sheriff’s office vehicle, Morales said. Glynn County Fire-Rescue could not spare an ambulance to pick her up and transport her back here, Morales said. Nor could Waycross officials spare an ambulance for the task. A private ambulance to transport her to the Glynn County Detention Center was the only other option, one that raised serious cost concerns as well as liability risks, he said.
“We could not risk the liability issues that go with that,” Morales said. “So, the judge gave the bonding order, we filled out the bonding papers and the family did the bonding thing. And we went on with life.”
Montreal Fletcher was killed in the February 26, 2021, crash. Brunswick police say Snipes was high on methampetamines when she crashed into a tree along the 3800 block of Altama Avenue on that date. Fletcher, her passenger, died at the scene. The crash crippled Snipes, Morales said.
Police said that Snipes, “without the intention of doing so,” caused the death of Fletcher by her actions, the warrant states. Police said Snipes “had four suspensions on her license” at the time of the crash.
Sometime between the crash and her hospital stay, Snipes fell off the radar of local law enforcement. Brunswick police Cpl. Steven Kretschmar issued a warrant in Glynn County Magistrate Court in March 2021, charging Snipes with vehicular homicide, DUI/drugs, driving on a suspended license and failure to maintain a lane.
Sheriff’s deputies learned Wednesday that Snipes was at her mother’s house in Waycross. She had gained considerable weight since the crash, Morales said. Morales said Snipes insisted to deputies that her present condition made her incapable of arranging her own transportation to jail.
“She now weighs north of 300 pounds,” Morales said.
That is when the sheriff’s office and magistrate court decided to go to Waycross for the booking and bonding. Morales said the sheriff’s office is not unsympathetic to the physical plight the crash caused Snipes. But the law has to be carried out and justice served for Fletcher, he said.
“It was a lot of back-and-forth on this one,” Morales said. “But if you didn’t arrest her because of her condition, what are you going to tell the family of the victim. There’s really no winners in this, but what do you do?”
