Gainesville man faces additional charges in fatal wreck

LAWRENCEVILLE - A Gainesville man faces additional charges in connection with a fatal car crash in Gwinnett County a week ago.

Gwinnett Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter said Thursday 22-year-old Jacob Nicholson intentionally crashed his van into six vehicles that were stopped at a traffic light on South Norcross-Tucker Road and Jimmy Carter Boulevard. He said investigators presented their findings in court.

"A judge issued the warrant for one count of felony murder and then 10 counts of aggravated assault," said Ritter. "Those 10 counts of aggravated assault would be for the occupants of the other vehicles that were involved in that accident."

Ritter said the felony murder count was levied for the death of 59-year-old Cynthia Thornton of Norcross.

Ritter said investigators have theories about why Nicholson might have purposely crashed into the other vehicles, but he said they are continuing to investigate and are not prepared to discuss those theories.

(See the link below for last week's article on the accident.)