LITTLE WOMEN ATLANTA Melissa Hancock arrested after fatal DUI accident
25-year-old Melissa Hancock, who has appeared on the Lifetime reality series Little Women: Atlanta, was arrested for DUI after the car she was allegedly driving the wrong way down a one-way road hit another vehicle head on, killing the driver, 29-year-old Daniel Dill. Daniel, a petty officer in the Coast Guard, was the designated driver for his wife, who was celebrating her 27th birthday.
According to the police report, Daniel was driving on Interstate 264 to pick up his wife and friends at roughly 2 AM on Saturday, November 4, when Melissa hit him head-on. Daniel was taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, where he was treated for a major spinal cord injury, severe swelling of his brain, internal injuries, and broken bones. He died early on Sunday, November 5, after treatment and surgery.
The Virginia Pilot obtained the police report, and it reveals Melissa’s account of her actions before the accident:
Hancock, 25, of Virginia Beach, told a state police trooper she had two to four mixed drinks at Peabody’s Nightclub at the Oceanfront about an hour before the crash, the police summary said. Her blood alcohol content tested at 0.112 two hours later, the summary said. Hancock stands at just 4 feet tall and weighs 77 pounds, according to a court summons.
Melissa has been charged with DUI maiming and driving the wrong way, but a spokeswoman for the Commonwealth’s attorney says they are considering upgrading the charge to DUI manslaughter. Melissa has since been released from jail on a $15,000 bond, despite the Prosecutor’s objections. She is reportedly required “to wear a GPS device that also monitors alcohol use.”
Melissa’s lawyer, Stephen Pfeiffer, addressed the charges in a statement: “Everyone involved feels horrible about the tragic accident,” he said. “We are investigating the accident and the allegations against Miss Hancock.”
Daniel Dill’s father, Chris Dill Sr., said of his late son: “He was the most clean-cut guy. He never drank or smoked, and you had to really push his buttons to get him to curse. There wasn’t a confrontational bone in his body.”
I tracked down a clip of Melissa Hancock on Little Women: Atlanta from Season 2 in which she gets into it with Amanda after asking how Amanda’s boyfriend would feel about her going to a strip club for a party:
