A 23-year-old Fort Valley man is in custody for the hit-and-run death of a local 65-year-old pedestrian on Highway 96.

What’s Happening: Javeus Montgomery was arrested in South Carolina after allegedly striking James Oates, who was walking with a shopping cart along Georgia Highway 96 around 2 a.m. on July 23.

Between the Lines: Investigators tracked the suspect using a combination of physical evidence from the crash scene and FLOCK camera footage that followed the vehicle’s path from Georgia to South Carolina.

The Sources: Georgia State Patrol.

⚠️ Reminder: Crime articles contain only charges and information from police reports and law enforcement statements. Suspects and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.