By Associated Press
Spanish Fort, AL – A Spanish Fort teenager has been charged with two counts of murder for a crash that killed two bicyclists in rural Baldwin County, just two years after he was charged with striking and killing another bicycle rider in Fairhope.
Authorities said Patrick Young Ballard, 19, was charged in the deaths of William Frederick Imle, 48, of Daphne and Archie Leroy Clemons Jr., 46, of Spanish Fort. Ballard was accused of being under the influence of alcohol and speeding when he struck the bicyclists just before 9 a.m. Monday, the Press-Register reported on its Web site.
Ballard was jailed Tuesday and was expected to appear before a Baldwin County judge Wednesday.
State troopers said Ballard was driving a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado that crashed into a ditch and overturned after striking the cyclists. Ballard and his 17-year-old female passenger were ejected, but neither was believed to be seriously injured. Both were taken to University of South Alabama Medical Center for treatment and released.
The accident occurred on Bromley Road, a rural stretch that links Stapleton to Spanish Fort and is marked with signs urging drivers to share the road with cyclists.
"Apparently it's a popular bike route," said trooper spokesman Cpl. Joe Piggott.
It wasn't immediately known if Ballard had a lawyer. J. Clark Stankoski, who represented Ballard in the cyclist's death two years ago, said he was not his lawyer in the latest case.
In June 2005, Ballard was driving a 1991 Jeep Cherokee that struck and killed Laurence "Larry" McDuff of Fairhope less than five miles from the spot the cyclist's wife, Ann McDuff, also was fatally struck by a motorist while riding her bike about two years earlier.
In that case, Ballard was charged with manslaughter. Stankoski said Tuesday that the case was handled in juvenile court.
In the 2005 case, then-District Attorney David Whetstone called Ballard's driving history "disturbing for such a young man," and said that the 17-year-old was driving erratically at the time of the crash.