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Photo obtained via https://twitter.com/baddogatl

A night of dinner and drinks between two friends ended tragically when one of the friends refused an offer for a ride home and got behind the wheel of her car.

Tracy Mitchell, 47, who formerly owned Bad Dog Taqueria in Emory Village, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday, April 12.

The incident occurred in November 2015. Mitchell and her friend Emily Cameron were out having drinks and dinner. At the end of the meal, Mitchell  was “visibly intoxicated,” according to the District Attorney’s Office. She refused a restaurant manager’s offer to call a ride sharing service for her and drove her friend home.

“She was captured on surveillance video dropping the victim off at her Arizona Avenue apartment in the Northeast Atlanta section of DeKalb,” the District Attorney’s Office said. “As the victim exited the car, the Defendant suddenly accelerated in reverse, throwing the victim from the car and running over her body after striking a parked vehicle. When the Defendant’s car came to rest, she exited the car, stood over her friend’s lifeless body, returned to the driver’s seat, and fled the scene. She surrendered to authorities later the next day.”

Mitchell said a vehicle defect caused the sudden acceleration and, ultimately, her friend’s death. An expert for the prosecution – the vehicle’s manufacturer – refuted those claims, the District Attorney’s Office said. She was convicted of Homicide by Vehicle in the First Degree, Hit and Run, and Reckless Driving.

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