Man once charged with murder in Columbus car crash that killed nurse pleads
A Columbus man charged with murder after a five-vehicle car crash that killed a LaGrange nurse in 2017 has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.
Now 32, Courdia Carivail Bellamy faced multiple counts in the wreck reported at 7:17 p.m. Aug. 2, 2017, at Veterans Parkway and Talbotton Road, where Jennifer Sisk, 42, fatally was injured.
Sisk later was pronounced dead at the Midtown Medical Center, now known as Piedmont Columbus Regional.
Police said officers were trying to pull Bellamy over when he sped away, ramming Sisk’s car as he ran a red light and damaging four other vehicles.
Going 60 to 70 mph as he sped north on Veterans Parkway in a 1995 Toyota Camry, Bellamy hit Sisk’s 2015 Kia Optima as she crossed west on Talbotton Road. The impact propelled her car into others that had stopped at the crossing, investigators said.
Bellamy got out and ran, but was caught nearby around 8:15 p.m., police said.
The plea deal
“I just want to apologize to the victim’s family,” Bellamy told Superior Court Judge Arthur Smith III, before pleading Friday morning.
Said Smith: “I think that’s important, Mr. Bellamy, to the victims who’ve lost a loved one because of your conduct.”
The case illustrates the dangers of fleeing from police, the judge added: “This sad and tragic incident underlines the importance of all motorists to pull over when law enforcement turns on their lights and directs them to pull over.”
Originally from Paris, Texas, Sisk in 2017 was a registered nurse with Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center and the mother of two sons, according to her obituary.
In the plea deal negotiated by prosecutor Vanessa Flournoy and public defender Alessandro Raimondo, Bellamy’s felony murder charge was dropped, as were some misdemeanor traffic counts.
He pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle, hit and run, eluding police and two counts of disregarding traffic control devices. Smith sentenced him to 20 years in prison, with 12 to serve and the rest on probation.
Bellamy, who was 28 in 2017, has been jailed since the car crash. He will get credit for the time he already has served.
Smith also ordered him to pay a total of $6,564 in restitution to cover the Sisk family’s funeral expenses.
Two other motorists whose cars were damaged each asked for $1,000 in restitution, but Raimondo challenged that, noting no other victims were named in Bellamy’s indictment, leaving no legal basis for such compensation.
Smith set a June 24 hearing on those claims.
Because of past offenses, Bellamy did not qualify to be treated as a first offender. Court records showed he had a history of drug and theft charges:
- On June 16, 2007, he was convicted of stealing a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe worth $27,860.
- On April 2, 2008, he was convicted of breaking into a building at 1120 Bradley Drive, formerly the Bradley Library.
- On Oct. 23, 2009, he pleaded guilty to stealing a 2002 Chevy Tracker.
- On May 29, 2015, he pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine and marijuana while having a gun, and being a convicted felon with a firearm.