Former Georgia staffer sues school, Eagles' Jalen Carter - ESPN

ATHENS, Ga. — Victoria Bowles, who survived the fatal car wreck that killed a University of Georgia football player and recruiting staffer on Jan. 15, has filed a lawsuit against the UGA athletic association and Philadelphia Eagles rookie Jalen Carter, who police accused of racing the SUV being driven by a recruiting staffer when it wrecked.

The lawsuit, filed in state court in Gwinnett County on Wednesday by Bowles, a former recruiting analyst for the university, accuses the UGA athletic association of negligence and contradicts public statements by Bulldogs football coach Kirby Smart and other officials, who have claimed that recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy shouldn't have been driving the leased SUV when it left the road and struck trees and utility poles.

The crash occurred hours after Georgia celebrated its second straight national championship with an on-campus parade. After the wreck, the athletic association issued a statement, that said in part that «rental vehicles were to be turned in at the immediate conclusion of recruiting duties.»

«On the evening of the Championship Celebration, LeCroy told Ms. Bowles that she [LeCroy] had 'permission' to keep the SUV 'until tomorrow,'» the lawsuit said. «Numerous text messages from recruiting staff supervisors to LeCroy, Ms. Bowles and other staff members show the Association's statement is false. Recruiting staff were regularly informed they could leave their personal vehicles overnight at the Butts-Mehre football facility and permissively use Association rental vehicles through a specified cut-off date and time, unrelated to their assigned recruiting activity duties.»

The lawsuit also alleges that the athletic association was negligent in allowing LeCroy to drive the