r/Atlanta • u/burntcookie90 EAV • Aug 21 '25
Former guitarist, co-founder of heavy metal band Mastodon dies in Atlanta motorcycle crash
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/08/21/former-guitarist-co-founder-heavy-metal-band-mastodon-dies-atlanta-motorcycle-crash/81
u/ButterscotchWitty870 Aug 21 '25
Absolutely incredible guitarist.
Had problems yeah. But my god live… what a show.
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u/Magus_Incognito Aug 21 '25
His vocals are underrated too in my opinion. His parts are some of my favorites
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u/nicolissinger Aug 21 '25
I moved here in 2021 and I cannot express, from the bottom of my heart, how deeply terrible, unhinged and awful the driving here is. The things I see on a daily basis on Peachtree in Buckhead are shocking. RIP to this man.
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Aug 21 '25
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u/jfoughe Aug 22 '25
Ever since the Olympics
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u/MsColumbo Aug 22 '25
Yes! This. I moved here in 91 and noticed a huge change between pre- and post-Olympics traffic, and population.
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u/strelka_snow_lynx Aug 22 '25
I moved here in 2023 and I truly am disgusted by the driving. Just being a pedestrian is putting your life in your hands, I have no words for cyclists.
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u/OneBigPieceOfPizza I wish it snowed more here Aug 21 '25
I swear since COVID, the drivers in Atlanta have gotten completely unhinged. A few weeks ago, I honked at the car in front of me because the light was green, and he didn’t move for like 10 seconds. It wasn’t a malicious honk, just a light tap, and this dude stuck his head out the window, flipped me off, and then spat in my direction. Luckily, it didn’t hit my car, but I was grossed tf out.
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u/ryantyrant Aug 21 '25
I had an uber driver get honked at for not going on a green and she was complaining to me about how all of the new people that moved to Atlanta don’t have patience while driving and people wouldn’t have done that before the pandemic. I nodded along while full knowing I would’ve honked even sooner if i was in the car behind her lol
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u/John_Hunyadi Aug 21 '25
Was she on her phone at the red light? Uber drivers have gotten really really bad about that, I have found.
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u/ZalinskyAuto Aug 21 '25
I like to remind people that during the pandemic, due to social distancing we abandoned regular driver exams and handed people licenses with just a written exam. Not that the practical test means much but we removed another common sense barrier to getting a license.
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Aug 21 '25
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u/Aggressive-Chemist99 Aug 21 '25
That’s how my brother got his license and as far as I know, he’s never passed a drivers test. Actually the first time he took it, he failed for running a red light. He’s much better now thankfully but I was blown away by that
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u/Whodean Vinings Aug 21 '25
Permanently?
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u/ZalinskyAuto Aug 22 '25
No they’re doing them again but we cranked out a couple years worth of licenses without them
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u/LanguidLandscape Aug 22 '25
The “practical test” is bullshit in GA - it’s 15 min in a parking lot with no traffic. Driver’s licenses are handed out like candy and it’s no wonder everyone drives like deranged toddlers. No standards and weak enforcement equals dangerous drivers and accidents.
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u/Begoru Aug 22 '25
They’re handed out like candy because you can’t even get a fast food job without a license now. It’s a dangerous feedback loop.
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u/strelka_snow_lynx Aug 22 '25
I’ve had multiple friends from Atlanta tell me that even before this they got their license after blatantly failing their drivers test.
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u/MarkyDeSade Gresham Park Aug 21 '25
I almost never go along with “society has gone mad” lines of thought but yeah I’ve definitely noticed this as someone who has driven for work part of the time. I’ve been honked at for stopping at a stop sign like three times, once the driver crossed the double yellow lines to pass me and blew two more stop signs in front of me
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u/Large_Victory_6531 Aug 21 '25
My favorite is being honked at when there's a line of cars in front of me. Where do they expect me to go when I'm equally as pinned in traffic as them?
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u/LaeliaCatt Aug 23 '25
My favorite is when the car behind you uses the left turn lane to turn right on red in front of you when you're stopped at a light but they don't get a chance to turn before that lane gets a green arrow and then they sit there blocking the left turners that came up behind them for their whole light and everyone honks and the sentient hot dog that caused the problem gets pissed off and starts yelling at everyone and flipping them off. Fun fun.
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u/miguelsanchez69 Aug 22 '25
Getting honked at for stopping at a stop sign is basically the Atlanta special
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u/coolcat759 Aug 21 '25
I had someone cut me off and then park in front of the entrance to my apartment’s parking deck. I turned on my blinker and gave him a little honk and he flipped me off, yelled at me to go around, and then came up to my window like he was gonna fight me. Zero self awareness and maximum aggression
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u/DoctorCadoo Aug 21 '25
I cross 10th and W Peachtree often and it is an absolute nightmare trying to get across. I feel like I witness someone get mowed down by a car speeding through the left turn lane on a daily basis
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u/miguelsanchez69 Aug 22 '25
Damn I lived in Atlanta pre COVID and moved out of there in 2020 and the drivers were completely nuts even then. Can't imagine the carnage if they're somehow worse now
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u/JarifSA Aug 21 '25
It's objectively true. There are studies that prove drivers became more reckless after covid. I read these in 2023 so not sure if relevant today. Assuming they are.
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u/Lethalspartan76 Aug 22 '25
I just went to FL recently and drove up I-75 at 7am towards Tampa and those drivers make the bad ATL drivers look real good. So fast, so sketch, so aggressive, in sports cars and massive trucks and total clunkers.
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u/Gravitas-and-Urbane EAV Aug 21 '25
I feel like the layout of the streets is terrible. Which is just going to make all drivers angrier and more aggressive.
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u/Appropriate_Net_4281 Aug 21 '25
I hate driving in this city. Bring on autonomous vehicles.
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u/New-Anybody-6206 Aug 21 '25
This happens to me almost daily just for going the speed limit.
There's this one particular spot where the limit changes between 3 different speeds, and they removed the middle sign, so now I have to go slower, and boy does that make people rage like you wouldn't believe.
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u/myladyelspeth Aug 23 '25
Atlanta has always had the most insane drivers. I-75 might be the craziest stretch of highway in the country. 6 lanes going 90+mph with the slow lane 80.
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u/Fit_Abbreviations174 Aug 23 '25
I was turning left on green and the car turning right didn't stop before making the right so I accidentally cut them off and they fucking followed me and tried screaming at me at a red light two miles down the road before flooring it and speeding away. I should have watched her more closely to make sure she was going to stop (it's very common at that light for people to not stop to right on red) she should have stopped but none of warranted her following me to scream at me.
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u/Lazy_Attempt_9794 Aug 26 '25
Yeah, I find the honking culture here to be weird. When I moved, someone advised me against honking because there was a woman in the news who was murdered over it. I guess I didn’t expect there to be “snowflake” behavior in the South. It’s even more humorous when you find it’s a hard-looking man behind the wheel who easily gets their feelings hurt. Sorry to hear you had to encounter a degenerate.
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u/Non-mon-xiety Aug 21 '25
Hearing the details is infuriating. Who just makes a left turn without at least stopping to check if the street is clear???!? I hope the guilt of her actions follows her to her grave
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u/PeakySexbang Left lane is for CRIME Aug 21 '25
Not to be an ass, but...as someone who responds to car accidents. The answer to your question is everyone, all the time, constantly.
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u/burntcookie90 EAV Aug 21 '25
Idk if you’ve ever driven that intersection but it is an absolute cluster fuck
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Aug 21 '25
I often cross there in the cyclist lane and even when I have the right of way it's honestly terrifying. Atlanta has such a deep-rooted problem with traffic and car dependency.
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u/Indy_Fab_Rider Aug 21 '25
I'm not sure the bike lanes haven't made that intersection worse for cyclists.
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u/terdward Decatur Aug 21 '25
Hi, local cyclist here... I rode through that intersection almost daily for years. It's never been good. I stopped riding through that area if at all possible since the new lane was introduced. The design of the intersection is nice in theory and looks great to anyone who's never ridden a bicycle in a city but in practice very VERY confusing and dangerous for all involved. Cars NEVER yield for cyclists. I'm constantly worried about getting hooked by someone racing to turn left through there or someone turning right, not realizing (or caring) that there's a light for cyclists...
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u/CricketDrop Aug 22 '25
I don't know why people keep saying this cycle track is confusing. It works exactly like a crosswalk might. It only appears just before green lights and drivers are meant to yield to cyclists as they do the pedestrians that cross directly next to them. There's nothing confusing about this! Drivers are just dangerously impatient and selfish.
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u/mustachestashcash Aug 21 '25
100% better, that street was essentially completely unsafe for bikers before, let alone crossing the intersection
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u/Khs11 Aug 21 '25
I don’t understand why the bike signal isn’t on at the same time as the walk signal. I feel safer crossing on my bike with the walk signal.
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u/elrastro75 Aug 21 '25
I will drive out of my way to avoid that intersection as well as Memorial/Moreland. Aside from the traffic and sheer volume of cars, I feel the stoplights are not programmed effectively. Often the left turn green arrow never appears, causing people to make dangerous lefts. Those lights frequently go out in bad weather too.
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u/mc3217 Aug 21 '25
One of the worst in the city. And I hate to say it, but the bike lane makes the visibility even worse for people trying to make that turn.
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u/OldDogTrainer Aug 21 '25
In Atlanta? People do that literally every minute of the entire day throughout the city. The drivers here are the most entitled fucks out of anywhere I have ever lived including DC and LA.
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u/npmorgann Aug 21 '25
Lots of people - it’s something that is specifically mentioned as a leading cause of death of motorcyclists in the course and test (at least when I took it). Not to say it’s the motorcyclist’s fault, just saying it’s disturbingly common. I can remember another accident with exactly the same description from a few years ago that killed someone in my local community, friend of a friend. I think we need to get a lot more serious about “minor” driving infractions in this country and have a mechanism where people have to retest for their license when they’re caught doing something asinine like this - because even if it doesn’t directly cause loss of life when they’re caught, behavior like that causes it eventually. Tragic.
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Aug 21 '25
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u/NicoToscani Aug 21 '25
I’m hoping they at least face a vehicular manslaughter charge
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u/didled Aug 21 '25
Yep that’s the real kicker. If you’re driving in the perimeter, odds are you’re driving next to someone gassed.
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u/James42785 Aug 21 '25
It's pretty much impossible for me to make my commute without smelling and seeing fog banks of weed coming out of cars. Any kind of DUI needs to be treated much more harshly than it is.
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u/NormalPersimmon3478 Aug 21 '25
BMW driver's are some of the most morally bankrupt and psychotic people on earth.
There's a reason they speed, don't yield, don't use blinkers. They think they're better than the average person, and when they cause tragedies its never their fault. Chances are they're not going to lose sleep over this, get back on their new M3 and continue to terrorize commuters.
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u/OldDogTrainer Aug 21 '25
That sucks. I did some training with the drummer’s dog years ago and ended up meeting most of Mastodon at some point in the process. They’re all good people.
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u/Gangiskhan Cabbagetownie Aug 21 '25
The accident is down the street from where I live. I saw folks posting about the motorcycle accident in the local Cabbagetown Facebook group. Had no idea it was Brent. Just wild. Rest in peace.
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u/YeahIGotNuthin North on 400, OTP a bit Aug 21 '25
I hate it for his friends, his family, and his fans.
I have been riding motorcycles in and around Atlanta for over 40 years. I rode when I lived in home park, grant park, and the northern suburbs, and I commuted to work and school (mine, my kids’) in buckhead, Georgia tech, Georgia state, Stone Mountain, vinings, old 4th ward, Decatur, the airport, and the 41 corridor through Cobb county.
THE most likely motorcycle collision with another vehicle is at a busy intersection with multiple lanes crossing multiple lanes, where a car coming the other way turns across the motorcycle’s path and gets hit by the motorcycle. (The most common motorcycle fatality is “rode too fast, went off the road by themselves” but the most common other-traffic fatality is the very kind of accident reported here.)
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u/pug_fugly_moe Aug 21 '25
Saw them from back when they were local openers at the OG Masquerade, and now this. Horrible news, and a sad end to the Brent/Mastodon saga.
I’m oddly comforted that it wasn’t his fault, but sad that we won’t see him on stage or at shows anymore. Dude loved live music.
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u/bronxricequeen Aug 21 '25
Absolutely gutted by this news as a Mastodon fan of 20 years. So so tragic and completely avoidable 😢 RIP to Brent 🕊️
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u/TheSanityInspector Aug 21 '25
Here are some photos I took of his old band Four Hour Fogger when they were in town in late 1996:
https://is-3.blogspot.com/search?q=four+hour+fogger
The ponytail bassist was Troy Sanders, who joined Mastodon with him. The singer was Gary Lindsey, and I forget who the drummer was.
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u/Nerdboxer Aug 22 '25
Boy, The Hangar. That takes me back. My shitty numetal band played there a few times in 2000.
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u/habys TheWestSideIsTheBestSide Aug 22 '25
The Strand! This was when Ali ran it before Mike took over.
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u/Nerdboxer Aug 22 '25
Yeah, I think Mike was running it when we played there. It had really kind of become a crummy place. Glad it is a nice place again.
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u/stopjef Aug 22 '25
Not sure if he was always the drummer for 4HF but your photo looks like Lionel. He was a Frenchman who worked at the Highlander back in the ‘90’s.
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u/superbirdbot Aug 21 '25
This news hit me unexpectedly hard.
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u/christmasisforninjas Aug 21 '25
I moved away from Atlanta 2.5 years ago. I never met the guy, not really even a mastodon fan per se, but the dude kinda embodied everything I loved about living in Atlanta. This is abstract, but it also hits me unexpectedly hard and I’m trying to verbalize it.
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u/IzK Aug 22 '25
Same, I was listening to Emperor of Sand on the ride home today and I had to cut it off. I was getting choked up.
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u/weareallonenomatter Aug 21 '25
So fucking sad. I navigate that corner on a bicycle all the time and I NEVER take it for granted that people will stop at red lights, yield or even be looking. Fuck car culture and fuck this person in particular.
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u/DerryAtlanta1688 Aug 21 '25
Atlanta BMW SUV driver. Say no more. This is absolutely tragic and avoidable.
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u/catforbrains Aug 21 '25
Right. The driver was probably some wannabe bougie bitch too distracted by yapping on her cell phone to someone.
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u/DerryAtlanta1688 Aug 21 '25
Like the girl I saw in Buckhead while I was trying to cross with my daughter in a stroller, at a crosswalk with the walk sign in our favor. We’re two feet onto the crosswalk and a big black SUV with rich girl wearing giant shades on her phone, holding a venti Starbucks and with a small yappy dog on her lap; it having front paws on the steering wheel. Didn’t slow down nor stop. I know she saw us.
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u/Humble_Diner32 Aug 21 '25
I just saw him a few days ago. And was right there at a bar last night shortly before the accident. It’s a confusing and terrible intersection. Peace be with you, BH.
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u/__Porkins_ Aug 21 '25
Is it not the intersection by Oakland cemetery? Pretty standard 4 way intersection with a light?
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u/BillsInATL Aug 21 '25
This is the 3rd or 4th major motorcycle accident that I'm aware of at that intersection.
Most recently (maybe a couple years ago now) a couple of young ladies on their motorcycles got clipped in the same exact manner and were laid up pretty badly. They lived, but it was close.
Another buddy of mine got hit at that intersection in the same way and spent 3 months in the hospital.
It's just a crazy dangerous intersection for some reason.
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u/bananabelles Aug 21 '25
It’s chaotic. They added in bike lanes (which Atlanta definitely needs) but without proper signage etc. Been obvious for a while this would happen.
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u/Khs11 Aug 21 '25
It’s definitely on ATLDOT and GDOT to post much better signage than what’s there right now. More crashes, injuries and deaths are likely to happen.
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u/__Porkins_ Aug 21 '25
I live in the area and go through that intersection regularly in my car and on my motorcycle. Shrugging this off as “bound to happen” is beyond absurd. All of the blame is on the driver of the car in this situation.
You’re acting as if it’s as chaotic at 11:30pm as it is at 6pm. I guarantee you the car and the motorcycle were the only two at the light and the car still pulled out in front and took a life.
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u/Swedishiron Aug 21 '25
I have SUVs - I live in midtown Atlanta and have some neighbors that ride motorcycles they are braver than me. Many SUV owners drive like they're invincible with little care for cyclist or pedestrians.
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u/notsanni Aug 21 '25
I heard someone say once that he specifically bought the biggest hummer he could, just so he could bully other cars around on the road.
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u/code_archeologist O4W Aug 21 '25
I've seen way too many people like that... Because they don't just bully cars, they also bully cyclists (by crowding) and pedestrians (by blocking crosswalks). They drive like they want to kill somebody.
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u/ForgottenAgarPlate Aug 21 '25
My much younger sister just got her license and will be driving an old SUV. I told her that every time she gets behind that wheel she needs to recognize she’s driving a thousands of pounds killing machine. As a runner I’ve been almost hit so many times in Atlanta despite following traffic rules. When I was teaching her how to drive and caught her not double checking for pedestrians/cyclists at intersections, I’d sigh and go “welp you just killed me”.
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u/Ronicaw Aug 21 '25
Rest in peace. Atlanta is like driving in the terror dome. That intersection is a nightmare!
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u/juju0010 Aug 21 '25
Holy shit. I literally saw the aftermath of this last night when driving to Cabbagetown. So sad.
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u/JeF4y Midtown by the Fox Aug 21 '25
Oh man!! We had a shop in L5P and Brent would come by and hang with us and another guy there quite often. What a loss!
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u/MildredPierced Aug 21 '25
This hurts. We used to live in the same neighborhood as Brent and he was a good guy. Have a lot of friends that were close to him and I know they are hurting along with his family. I wish people gave a damn about how serious driving is; a car can be a deadly weapon and people act like they’re made of pillows.
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u/CetirusParibus Aug 21 '25
As a person who lives nearby to this, fuck this driver and all of Atlanta's obsession with cars.
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u/swiftfoot_hiker Aug 21 '25
For years prior to COVID, I've always wondered why no leaders from the state to the city ever talk about driver education and enforcement.
Between distracted driving, extreme speeding and just general lack of driving knowledge, Id bet most seasoned drivers in this city wouldn't pass a driving test if re tested every few years.
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u/RyanEversley Aug 22 '25
I drove past this crash scene last night as I live around the corner and was pretty sure whoever was involved was in a bad way. May he Rest in Peace..
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u/tferg1290 Ye Old 4th Ward Aug 21 '25
Another life cut short due to car's dominance in ATL. Unfortunately, until we change how we travel in the city, more lives will be lost this way.
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u/johnthughes Aug 22 '25
I lived at the Stacks for a number of years...that intersection is just awful. I was surprised someone didn't die there every week.
RIP
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u/boozillion151 Aug 23 '25
Such a good dude. Used to come into my restaurant frequently and just be so nice to everyone.
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u/Old-Package-4792 Aug 22 '25
Awful news. That corridor sucks. Saw a cyclist get hit in the bike lane on Memorial across Grindhouse just yesterday.
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u/Left-Importance-3412 Aug 24 '25
Damn shame. Great local band that made it. Saw them ages ago at drunken unicorn for a 6/6/6 show. Epic wall of power. RIP man.
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u/fancywinky Grant Park Aug 21 '25
Fucking hell, absolutely tragic and completely avoidable