Felony Charges Filed Against Driver Who Crashed Into Anderson Preschool

Felony charges have been filed against the driver of a car that plowed into a preschool in Anderson more than a year ago and injured 20 people. 21-year-old Courtney Dearman was booked into jail Friday on two counts of felony reckless driving causing great bodily injury as well as 14 misdemeanor counts. On March 3rd of last year, nineteen young children and one adult were injured when a Suzuki Grand Vitara driven by Dearman smashed through a wall into Great Adventures Christian Preschool and Daycare, a cinder block building at the corner of Balls Ferry Road and Martha Street. Anderson Police now say the incident started when some teenage boys were playing basketball nearby and saw 18-year-old Taylor Dearman walk by. He had been in a recent fight with one of the boys. Words were exchanged and three of the boys started chasing Dearman on foot. Two others got into a car to chase him. Dearman called his mother and sister, who were eating at a nearby restaurant, to come get him so he wouldn’t get beat up. Courtney and her mother left the restaurant and drove down Balls Ferry Road looking for Taylor. That’s when Courtney somehow crashed into the building. Exactly how that happened is still unclear. Two of the teens who had been chasing Taylor heard the crash and ran to help, one of them pulling a child to safety. The boys were among a group of bystanders treated as heroes in a board of supervisors presentation for their coming to the rescue of the children, all of whom have recovered.