Bryan Keith Schmitt (pictured) was indicted on on counts of murder, felony murder and aggravated assault on Friday over the death of Hamid Jahangard
An Atlanta attorney has been charged with murder over what police believe was a brutal road rage incident.
Bryan Keith Schmitt, 47, was indicted on on counts of murder, felony murder and aggravated assault on Friday over the death of Hamid Jahangard, 60, in the affluent area of Sandy Springs.
Schmitt hit Jahangard, a prominent real estate investor, with his 2011 model Mercedes CLS 550 on the morning of July 30.
Schmitt has maintained it was an accident, but investigators now believe the attorney deliberately plowed into Jahangard in a fit of fury.
The clash between the two men began when Schmitt’s expensive sedan was hit by a golf ball purportedly thrown by Jahangard, who was standing near several trash cans at the end of a large driveway belonging to one of the rental properties he owned in the area.
Schmitt says that when he heard the golf ball hit his Mercedes, he stopped and made a U-turn to confront Jahanhgard.
Jahangard was born in Iran, before moving to American and becoming a prominent real estate investor in the affluent area of Sandy Springs
The dispute took place at the bottom of this driveway in Sandy Springs
‘I rolled down my [window] to ask why he’d throw something at my car. He yelled at me to ‘F**K! It’s none of your business!’ Schmitt told detectives in a police report.
‘When I attempted to pull into the driveway he pushed a trash can at me. I swerved to right to miss it and ended up hitting a second trash can. When I came to stop, he was lying on the other side of the first trash can’.
A witness who arrived on the scene and called 911 claimed they saw Schmitt tending to Jahanhgard on the road as blood poured from his head.
The Iranian-born property investor was rushed to hospital but died three days later.
Jahanhgard’s brother, Manu, said he was talking on the phone with his brother at the time of the incident, and indeed heard him getting into an argument with a man.
According to AJC, Manu ‘heard someone yelling and he heard his brother say, ‘I did not throw anything, get out my face, get out my face’ before the line went dead.
Schmitt says his 2011 model Mercedes CLS 550 was struck by a golf ball thrown by Jahanhgard
Jahanhgard (left ) a sustained a massive skull fracture that was inconsistent with Schmitt’s (right) account that he swerved to miss the trash can
Police say they found a golf ball at the scene, although there was no damage to Schmitt’s Mercedes.
They did not find Jahanhgard’s cellphone, despite the fact he had been speaking on it when he was struck down by the car.
A ‘Find my Phone’ tracking device led police to Schmitt’s house – where they found the cellphone under a windscreen wiper of the Mercedes.
That was one piece of evidence that prompted investigators to suspect that Schmitt had driven into Jahanhgard at a high speeds.
Jahanhgard also sustained a massive skull fracture that was inconsistent with Schmitt’s account that he swerved to miss the trash can.
On August 8, investigators uncovered video footage recorded by an air conditioning service van which was traveling behind Schmitt’s Mercedes.
Investigator J.T. Williams wrote in his report that the footage shows ‘Schmitt’s vehicle plowing into the driveway and is not the type of driving for someone to ‘turn around,’ ‘swerve to miss a garbage can,’
‘The speed used to vault the garbage can, lift the front end of his car up and to slam the victim down so hard it causes a massive skull fracture … is not an accident’.
Schmitt has now been jailed without bond, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 27.
Jahanhgard was a widower, whose wife died from cancer just eleven months ago.
He leaves behind two daughters in their early twenties who are now orphaned.
Jahanhgard was a widower, whose wife died from cancer just eleven months ago. The late couple are pictured with their daughters in a picture from the late 1990s