It was just past midnight on a quiet Sunday in Athens when the kind of phone call every dispatcher dreads started coming in. At around 12:08 a.m., reports began flying about a driver headed the wrong way on the Georgia 10 Inner Loop. Within minutes, the situation turned from a traffic hazard into a full-blown catastrophe near the Oglethorpe Avenue exit, leaving a trail of twisted metal, fire, and two young lives cut short.
Police say 26-year-old Desiree Browning, a Lawrenceville native, was behind the wheel of a 2021 Kia Seltos when she entered the highway going against the flow of traffic. As she sped down the loop, her SUV first clipped a Mercedes-Benz and then slammed into a Ford Expedition. But the Kia didn’t stop there. It continued its dangerous path until it collided head-on with a 2017 Toyota Camry driven by 25-year-old Soonhoon Choi.
The impact was so violent that the Kia was thrown against the roadway’s cable barriers, where it quickly became a fireball. Fire crews rushed to the scene to beat back the flames, but the damage was already done. Both Browning and Choi were pronounced dead at the scene, their lives ending in a split-second collision that has left the local community in shock.
The tragedy didn’t end with the drivers. Two passengers—one from Browning’s SUV and another from Choi’s Camry—were pulled from the wreckage with life-altering injuries. Both were rushed to a local hospital in critical condition, where they are currently fighting for their lives. While the people in the Mercedes and the Ford managed to escape with injuries that weren’t life-threatening, the emotional weight of the night is something they’ll likely carry forever.
Investigators from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department spent hours under the highway lights, meticulously piecing together how Browning ended up on the wrong side of the road. They’re looking at everything—speed, potential impairment, and just plain old driver confusion. It’s a tedious process, but one they say is necessary to give the grieving families some semblance of an answer.
This crash marks a somber milestone for the area, being the eighth fatal wreck in the county this year. For local authorities, it’s a painful reminder of how quickly a late-night drive can turn deadly. They’re urging anyone who might have seen the Kia before the crash or who has dashcam footage to reach out to Senior Police Officer Joshua Santos, as every bit of information helps paint the full picture of those final moments.
For now, the Inner Loop is open again, but the scorch marks on the barrier and the debris on the shoulder serve as a haunting backdrop for a city mourning two young people. It’s a heartbreaking start to the week for Athens, as two families begin the impossible task of saying goodbye to loved ones who should have made it home that night.
