UGA Athletic Association, Jalen Carter Sued by Former UGA Football Staffer Victoria Bowles

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ATHENS - UGA’s athletic association is the focus of a second known lawsuit stemming from the fatal accident on January 15, 2023 that took the life of a UGA football player and a staffer. 

Victoria Bowles, a former UGA football staffer who survived a crash that killed Chandler LeCroy and Devin Willock, sued the UGA Athletic Association and Eagles’ rookie and former UGA football player Jalen Carter in state court in Gwinnett County on Wednesday.  

ESPN reported the news on Thursday. 

The suit disputes UGA’s statement "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 (LeCroy) had 'permission' to keep the SUV 'until tomorrow,’” the suit states. “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.”

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The lawsuit goes on to allege that UGAAA should not have permitted LeCroy to drive in her work capacity - saying that LeCroy had not fewer than four tickets - two of which were so-called “super speeder” violations. The lawsuit goes on to claim LeCroy got one of her two super speeder violations returning from Jacksonville after No. 1 Georgia’s 42-20 win over the Gators. 

"The UGA Athletic Association would have reasonably concluded that LeCroy regularly drove at extreme speeds when law enforcement was not present," the lawsuit added. "While LeCroy may have been legally intoxicated, the proximate cause of the crash was street racing and extreme speed. (UGAAA’s) negligent entrustment of the large rental SUV to LeCroy, with knowledge that she was a reckless and habitual speeder, concurs with LeCroy's primary negligence-traveling 104.2 mph.”

UGAAA issued the following statement to Dawg Post regarding the lawsuit:

“We are continuing to review the complaint, as plaintiff’s counsel elected to share it with the media before sharing it with us.  Based on our preliminary review, we dispute its claims and will vigorously defend the Athletic Association’s interests in court. We stand by our prior statements regarding this matter. The complaint does not allege that Ms. LeCroy and Ms. Bowles were on duty or acting within the scope of their employment in the hours leading up to the accident. It claims that on some previous occasions, recruiting staff were permitted to take rental vehicles home and return them the next morning. This does not mean, however, that they were allowed to use the car for any purpose. Recruiting vehicles were to be used during recruiting activities only, personal use of the vehicles was prohibited, and recruiting staff therefore were not authorized to use the rental vehicle for their purely personal activities on the night of the accident or any other time. Under no circumstances were recruiting staff authorized to use rental cars to drive at excessive speeds while intoxicated.

 While we have patiently supported Ms. Bowles during her long and difficult recovery, we will strongly defend our position in this lawsuit.”


The lawsuit alleges Carter “was aware at the time, he was jointly responsible for the crash, and had a legal duty to remain on the scene. Instead, in part obviously fearful of bad publicity and the effect on his NFL draft status, he hoped not to be questioned or take any responsibility for his actions.”

Carter received 12 months of probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing in March.

With Jalen Carter and multiple other Bulldogs on the roster, the Philadelphia Eagle’s NFL odds to win the 2023 Super Bowl are at +800 now according to FanDuel.

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