Effingham County Sheriff’s deputies along with the Rincon Police Department have arrested a man who is alleged to have fled from a fatal New Year’s Day accident.

Robert Thomas Kea Jr., 21, of Rincon, was a passenger in a car driven by Corey Adam Padgett that, while fleeing from police, ran a stop sign and hit another vehicle. The driver of the second vehicle, Irma Grant of Bluffton, died two weeks later at Savannah’s Memorial Health University Center.

Padgett was arrested on the scene but Kea fled, according to authorities.

Kea had active warrants out of Rincon for obstruction of a law enforcement officer, party to a crime and parole violation.
Kea was arrested at a residence in the Westwood Heights subdivision Friday afternoon. He provided a sheriff’s deputy with a false name and date of birth, which he was also charged with.

The New Year’s Day accident has been turned over to the Georgia State Patrol’s specialized collision reconstruction team in Reidsville.

Kea remains in the Effingham County Jail without bond.