Meh, I'm not even going to pretend to defend Carter here, but the timing is certainly not odd given the ACCPD's involvement. You won't find a bigger collection of ego maniacs than that department, and the timing certainly screams "get the department's name into the national headlines." Seriously, the evidence used to issue the warrant was pulled from city watch cameras, of which, they had access to the night of the incident. Why would you wait two months and finally announce the charges on day 1 of the combine?
Just a terrible incident all around. I'm not sure how punitive damages would work in this situation, but I would bet someone besides the insurance companies are going to pay up big in the near future. The driver of the vehicle that crashed was drunk (3X the legal limit), a recruiting staffer, and in a vehicle rented by the university's athletic department whose policy only allowed for work related usage. Not sure drag racing to waffle house at 2 AM qualifies.
I've actually driven down the same road a handful of times. It's almost good fortune that the vehicle hit a pole and had to essentially drop 12 feet out of the air down an embankment, or the truck would have likely gone right through the front of a housing complex, likely hurting or killing many more people.
Put some respect on Darnell Washington's name..