Teen Umar Hussain charged in fatal crash that killed sisters

Clayton County police have filed drunken driving and vehicular homicide charges against a Forest Park man who caused a weekend wreck that killed his two teenage sisters and left his tightknit Pakistani family devastated.

Jeff Turner, assistant police chief in Clayton County, said police don't know the intoxication level of Umar Hussain, 19. Because Hussain is under the legal drinking age, any amount of drinking warranted drunken driving charges. Police on the accident scene said they smelled alcohol on Hussain.

Turner said blood was drawn to determine blood-alcohol content and was sent to the GBI Crime Lab. Results could take several months, he said.

Police also filed two counts of vehicular homicide, plus a count of improper lane change. Vehicular homicide in the first degree carries a prison sentence range of three to 15 years. A driver can be charged in the first degree when an allegation of DUI is made.

Hussain is still hospitalized in fair condition at Southern Regional, hospital officials said. When he is ready to be released, the warrants will be served on him by sheriff's deputies and he will be taken to the Clayton County Jail for booking, Turner said.

Meanwhile, the family is planning the funeral for Sobia Hussain, 18, a recent graduate of Riverdale High, and Faika Hussain, 16. Because the sisters are crime victims, autopsies were performed Monday, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said. The state crime lab will soon release the bodies to the family, but no funeral arrangements have been announced.

The accident happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday on Tara Boulevard in south Clayton County. The Lincoln driven by Umar Hussain was going south, clipped a van in the next lane, veered over a median, crashed into an oncoming Jeep Cherokee and struck a tree.

The tragedy was heightened when the siblings' 21-year-old brother, Zahid Hussain, got news of the wreck and rushed from a nearby Dairy Queen, where he worked, and found his sisters dead.

Family friends were shocked upon hearing of the drunken driving allegations.

"I've never seen him drinking," Kashif Malik said of Umar. "He don't even smoke. As a Muslim, we're not allowed to drink alcohol."

Kashif and his brother, Asim Malik, have known the Hussain family for nearly 10 years. The Maliks said the family moved from New York, where most of the Hussain family lives. The family's six children were raised under the strict guidance of their parents, with the father working at a gas station/convenience store on Martin Luther King Drive in Atlanta.

Faika, a Forest Park High School student, was in a program for students who are interested in a nursing career, the Maliks said. Some of the participants were touring Southern Regional Medical Center Saturday from 5:30 p.m. until 10 p.m., the brothers said. Faika's older sister, Sobia, was tagging along, the brothers said.

Southern Regional spokeswoman Tracye Bryant said the hospital has a partnership with the Clayton County school system that lets high school students with an interest in medical fields see the facility.

"But nothing is done at night because they are high school students," Bryant said. Bryant said hospital officials are still trying to find out if a tour was being conducted Saturday night.

Sobia, according to Kashif Malik, got married last summer to a man still living in Pakistan. Sobia, who would have turned 19 in May, had applied to Mercer University and gotten a scholarship from the school, but had not made a final decision on going there. Sobia wanted to be a psychiatrist.

"[Faika] had the same kind of dream," Kashif Malik said.

Umar, who has an interest in real estate and studied real estate tapes, discussed him and Sobia possibly going to college together to make transportation easier on them.

Sobia started working at the Farmers Market in Forest Park to pass the time before going to college in June. But getting to and from work had become difficult, Kashif Malik said. Sobia had to rely on others to get her to and from places because her license had been suspended after she got a speeding ticket, Kashif Malik said. In fact, Sobia had been to a defensive driving class earlier Saturday. Sobia went home afterward and decided to tag along with her sister, Faika, at the hospital, Zahid Hussain said. At 11 p.m., Umar arrived to pick them up.

The family was speaking through friends and relatives Sunday and Monday. Family members from across the country arrived Monday. The father and mother are reportedly dazed.

"It's an amazing tragedy," Asim Malik added.