What Did Yikeyia Chandler’s Family Tell the Judge Before Sentencing?

 The consequences of a fatal crash on Interstate 520 in Augusta continue to raise difficult questions about accountability, evidence, and the lives forever changed. Alvin Percival, 71, was sentenced to one year in prison in connection with a collision that killed Yikeyia Chandler, 32, of Hephzibah, and seriously injured her fiancé, Kerry Graydon. Behind the sentence are a woman’s life cut short, a survivor left with serious injuries, and questions about how the case was handled from the beginning.

The information provided identifies Chandler as the victim of the crash and Graydon as the injured survivor. Their lives intersected with Percival’s in a collision whose consequences extended far beyond the roadway. Chandler’s death left family members facing an irreversible loss, while Graydon was left to recover from serious injuries and confront the aftermath of the incident. The available account does not provide the exact date of the crash or a complete reconstruction of how the collision occurred, so those details cannot responsibly be added.

One of the central questions concerns why Percival was not arrested at the scene. The supplied account raises the issue but does not explain the decisions made by responding officers or identify the circumstances that governed their actions. Without official records or statements, it would be premature to conclude why an arrest did not take place immediately. Understanding that decision requires a documented timeline of the response, the information available to officers, and the subsequent steps taken by investigators.

Another issue involves the absence of a blood sample to establish Percival’s blood-alcohol concentration after he reportedly acknowledged drinking. Such testing can be important in a suspected impaired-driving investigation, but the information provided does not establish why a sample was not collected or whether other evidence of alcohol use was documented. An admission to drinking does not, by itself, establish a person’s blood-alcohol level at the time of a crash. The circumstances surrounding the missing test therefore remain an important question requiring evidence-based answers.

The one-year prison sentence has also focused attention on the outcome of the case. Sentencing decisions can depend on the specific charges, the evidence presented, applicable law, and the circumstances considered by the court. The supplied information identifies Judge Ashley Wright as the judge who imposed the sentence, but it does not include the full sentencing record or explain the court’s reasoning. Without those details, the sentence can be reported accurately, but a complete assessment of how the decision was reached remains beyond the available information.

The voices of Chandler’s family and Graydon were another important part of the proceedings. The supplied account asks what they told the judge before sentencing, but it does not include their statements. Their perspectives matter because victim-impact statements can help a court understand how a crime has affected survivors and relatives beyond the facts established in a case. Their actual words, however, should not be invented or paraphrased without a reliable record. The details of their statements would need to come from court records or credible reporting of the hearing.

Taken together, the questions surrounding the arrest, the missing blood test, and the sentence point to the importance of transparency in serious crash cases. Answers may be found in police reports, investigative records, court filings, or the judge’s explanation of the sentence. Until those records are available, unanswered questions should not be treated as proof of misconduct or as evidence of a particular level of impairment. Clear documentation is essential for understanding what happened and why the case proceeded as it did.

At the center of the case remain Yikeyia Chandler and the people whose lives were changed by her death. Graydon’s injuries and the grief experienced by Chandler’s loved ones cannot be reduced to a sentence or a list of unanswered questions. A fuller public understanding depends on verified facts, transparent procedures, and respect for those affected. As more reliable information emerges, it may help clarify the decisions that followed the crash and ensure the human consequences remain part of the story.