Cookeville, TN : A New Mexico man has been charged with vehicular homicide in a crash on April, Monday 17th 2017

A New Mexico man has been charged with vehicular homicide in a crash that killed a 5-year-old on Interstate 40 in Cookeville over the weekend.

Richard Collins, 20, of Hobbs, New Mexico, was being held on a $500,000 bond in the Putnam County Jail Monday morning.

The crash happened just after midnight Saturday morning in the westbound lane of I-40 at mile marker 285, close to the Willow Avenue exit in Cookeville.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said that the boy was a passenger in a Honda CRV driven by his grandmother, 48-year-old Lorena Nathan of West Virginia, when they were struck from behind by a speeding Mitsubishi Lancer driven by Collins.

Nathan’s car rolled several times and ejected the boy, the warrant states.

Witnesses said the vehicle Collins was driving was traveling in excess of 100 mph, according to the warrant.

The boy and his grandmother were on their way to Colorado, where the boy’s parents live, Capt. R.C. Christian said Saturday.

Christian said the boy and his grandmother were using seatbelts, but “apparently due to the way it (the vehicle) rolled, the boy was ejected.”

Nathan was also injured in the crash and airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

Putnam Ambulance Service paramedics responded. as well as the THP’s Critical Incident Response Team and Criminal Investigation Division.

Collins is expected to face the charge in Putnam General Sessions Court on May 19.

A second serious weekend crash has turned into a fatality.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported Monday morning that 40-year-old David Carroll of Crossville was killed following injuries he sustained in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 70 East at Hunter Cove Road on Friday morning.

Carroll’s vehicle was westbound and crossed the center line on a straightaway, a THP report said. It left the road and hit an embankmant.

Carroll was airlifted to Erlanger Medical Center, where he died on Saturday.

Trooper Mark Mahan investigated the crash.

Carroll was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, according to the THP report.

Source :
Man charged with vehicular homicide in I-40 crash