Parents say 10 teens pleaded for the driver to stop after a late pickup, wrong turns and a strong smell of marijuana on the trip home.
CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — A group of Georgia teens heading home from prom said they begged their limo driver to pull over during a frightening ride that ended at a Holly Springs gas station, where deputies arrested the 71-year-old driver on drug-related DUI and marijuana charges.
The case has drawn sharp anger from parents who said they hired a limousine for a safe prom night but instead got a ride they describe as chaotic and unsafe. The driver, Nelson Baba, was booked March 21 in Cherokee County. Parents are now disputing the bill with the company that arranged the ride, while questions remain about how a driver deputies say lacked required credentials ended up transporting high school students to and from one of the biggest nights of their senior year.
What the teens expected to be a polished prom trip appears to have unraveled early. One student told local television that Baba arrived about an hour late to pick up the group and got lost on the way to the Georgia Aquarium, where the prom was being held. Even so, the students went inside and tried to salvage the night. Trouble, they said, became harder to ignore when the dance ended and they climbed back into the limo for the ride north toward Cherokee County. The student said the odor of marijuana was immediate and overwhelming. The teens told their parents by text that something was badly wrong, and one mother, Kimberly O’Neill, said the family received a message around 10:30 p.m. saying, “this guy’s gonna kill us.” The students said Baba missed turns, could not follow his GPS and drove in a way that left them scared enough to repeatedly ask him to stop.
The ride ended at a QuikTrip in Holly Springs after the teens finally got the driver to pull over, according to the parents’ account and the television report. From there, parents came to get their children, and deputies took over the stop. Authorities said Baba failed a field sobriety test and could not recite the alphabet. Deputies also said they found marijuana in the limo and that Baba told them he had bought it while the teens were inside the prom. Jail records show Baba was booked on charges of DUI-drugs, possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and two counts related to operating without the required certificate or permit. No crash was reported and no injuries were publicly reported, but parents said that did little to ease the shock of the night. Laura Legrand, one of the parents, said no family should have to worry that a hired driver might put teenagers in danger during a prom trip meant to protect them.
The case has also focused attention on how limousine service is regulated in Georgia. State guidance says limousine chauffeurs and other for-hire drivers must have either a qualifying background certification through their company or a for-hire endorsement on their Georgia driver’s license. Limousine carriers also need state permitting to operate legally. In this case, deputies said Baba did not have valid certificates to operate a motor vehicle for hire or to drive a limo. That detail matters because parents said they chose a limousine precisely to reduce the risks that often surround prom season, when schools and families stress safe rides and sober drivers. Instead, they say, they learned after the arrest that Baba worked for another limo company, not directly for the company with which they believed they had booked the service. That has turned a frightening night into a broader dispute over oversight, subcontracting and accountability.
The billing fight has become the next front in the fallout. Parents said they asked for a full refund from Price A Limo, the company they say handled the booking. According to the report, the company’s owner said Baba worked for another limousine company and offered to cut the bill in half because the first leg of the trip had been completed. Parents rejected that explanation, saying the trip had not gone as promised and that they did not knowingly hire Baba or contract with a separate operator. Public material on Price A Limo’s website says the company is family-owned, has operated since 2004 and describes its chauffeurs as licensed, permitted and bonded. As of March 29, no public court outcome had been reported in Baba’s case, and no publicly available hearing date was immediately listed in the reporting reviewed. That leaves several key questions unresolved, including who dispatched Baba, what records were checked before the prom booking and whether any administrative review will follow the criminal charges.
For the teens, the most lasting detail may be how quickly a formal celebration turned into a scramble for help. The group had dressed for senior prom, ridden into Atlanta for a dance at one of the city’s best-known venues and expected a late-night trip home with little more to worry about than tired feet and after-prom photos. Instead, parents say the students spent the ride watching the driver, texting adults and trying to get him to stop. “It was a crazy night,” one teen said in the television interview, summing up a ride that parents described as terrifying rather than festive. The scene that followed was far from the usual prom sendoff or pickup: a convenience store stop, deputies investigating, parents arriving to collect dressed-up teenagers, and a limousine no longer seen as a symbol of safety but as the center of a criminal case. What has not changed is the families’ anger. Parents say they want accountability not only for Baba, but for any company involved in putting him behind the wheel that night.
The driver faces pending charges in Cherokee County, and the business dispute over refunds and responsibility remains unsettled. As of Sunday, March 29, 2026, the criminal case had not publicly produced a reported court resolution, leaving the next milestone the driver’s first known appearance or any additional action by state regulators.
Author note: Last updated March 29, 2026.