Yellow-Light Crash Critically Hurts Man

A two-vehicle crash in Northeast Cobb on Saturday afternoon left a man hospitalized in critical condition.

A gray Mitsubishi Lancer headed north on Canton Road swerved into the southbound lanes at the intersection with Shallowford Road and collided with a silver 1995 Infiniti J30 about 3:20 p.m., according to a news release from Cobb County police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce. The Infiniti smashed into the door on the right side of the Lancer.

The crash occurred as the stoplight for the Canton Road drivers was cycling from yellow to red, investigators with the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program Unit found.

The Lancer swerved into oncoming traffic, police said, to avoid hitting a white passenger car that was turning left from southbound Canton Road onto eastbound Shallowford Road before the light turned red. Witnesses described that vehicle as an early 1990s Cadillac or Oldsmobile, Pierce said.

The driver of the Mitsubishi Lancer, 23-year-old Jose L. Maldonato III of Woodstock, was flown to Atlanta Medical Center in critical condition.

The driver of the Infiniti, 85-year-old Charles E. Meredith of East Cobb, was taken to with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.

STEP investigators want to talk to the driver of the white car that caused Maldonato to swerve out of the way. That white car did not make contact with the Lancer and continued east on Shallowford Road.

Police ask anyone with information that could help identify that driver to call 770-499-4152.