2 Gwinnett teens die in car collision; 'speed was the cause,' police say
Will Anderson and Stacy Shelton - Staff
Sunday, February 25, 2001

Two Lawrenceville teenagers died in a grinding head-on collision early Saturday morning on Atlanta's Buford Highway.

Benjamin Raby, 19, and Ryan L. Powers, 17, both of Lawrenceville, died at the scene, said Atlanta police Officer John Quigley.

Raby was driving southbound in a 1996 green Honda Accord when he lost control on a curve at Shady Valley Drive, the police spokesman said. The Honda slid across the median and struck an oncoming 1996 white Dodge Intrepid carrying an elderly woman and her daughter.

"It appeared speed was the cause," said Quigley, who declined to speculate on exactly how fast the car was going. The speed limit on that stretch of Buford Highway is 45 mph.

The accident happened at about 6:30 a.m. when traffic on the normally congested road would have been minimal. Pieces of both cars were strewn across the highway just north of Lenox Road.

Both women were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. The mother, 79, whom police did not identify, was listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit with abdominal injuries, Quigley said. The daughter, 51, was treated in the emergency room and was in stable condition late Saturday night.

Quigley said Powers was a junior at Brookwood High School. Raby would have turned 20 on March 13.

Raby was supposed to report to work Saturday morning at the Rack Room shoe store in Snellville, said his father, Charles Raby.

"I think they were on their way home from a friend's who lives off Buford Highway," his father said.

The younger Raby probably was headed to Lenox Road --- which has an entrance ramp onto I-85 north --- after spending the night at the friend's place, Raby said.

Benjamin Raby graduated from Brookwood High School in 1999. He went to Gwinnett Technical College for one year after graduation, but took some time off to work. He was planning to return to college for the spring quarter, according to his father.