Authorities are investigating a fatal single-vehicle accident that led to the death of 46-year-old Kevin Cissner of Buckhead.
Cissner died Wednesday after driving a Ford pickup truck into a historic building at the corner of South Jackson and East Broad streets in downtown Athens.
In a press release, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department said officers responded to a report of a suicidal male at approximately 7:20 a.m., Wednesday. After initial contact, police said Cissner fled from officers and crashed his vehicle into a building just off the University of Georgia’s North Campus. Police officials said officers did not pursue Cissner, who later died at the scene of the accident.
Bystanders gathered on Broad Street Wednesday to watch public safety officials extract the vehicle and remove rubble from the building, which houses Magnolias Bar and Republic Salon. Both businesses will remain closed until further notice.
Tina Vogt is a hairstylist at Republic Salon, which is housed on the third floor of the damaged building. “It’s a disaster,” said Vogt, who came downtown to see the damage after hearing about the accident from coworkers. “Our work group chat went crazy this morning with the pictures from Reddit, and I didn’t believe it, so I came out.”
The collision smashed a three-story scar in the building and blocked Broad Street with bricks and debris.
Athens-Clarke County Emergency Management Director Meredith Barnum was onsite Wednesday and said city engineers are assessing the stability of the structure.
“This is a very old building with very thick beams -- steel and wood -- so that has prevented any catastrophic damage of an immediate collapse,” Barnum said. “But we do have quite a large hole in the side, and we are working on the best tools to shore it up, which is basically shoving big steel jacks underneath to support it.”
Barnum said officials’ first priority will be preventing additional damage to the building that could endanger the public and result in further disruption to traffic flow.
“We’re just really asking people to stay away from the area while we make sure that it’s clean and safe,” Barnum said. “We’ll reopen it when it is clean and safe, but until then we just ask people to steer clear.”
Barnum said next steps will be to work with the affected property and business owners to determine the future of this Athens landmark.
This is the eleventh fatal crash of 2026.
