Background: The scene of the crash in Nashville, Tennessee (WTVF/YouTube). Inset top: Ray Eugene Padgett (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department). Inset bottom: Oluwalayomi Fadero (GoFundMe).
A man in Tennessee is accused of stealing a pickup truck and leading police on a chase that ended with him smashing into a sedan and killing its driver.
Ray Eugene Padgett, 52, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and vehicular homicide by recklessness in connection with the death of 23-year-old Oluwalayomi Fadero, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department announced. The defendant also stands charged with felony reckless endangerment, attempted criminal homicide, and driving on a revoked license.
Police believe that on Friday morning, while Padgett was out on parole, he stole a Ford F-250 pickup truck from a car lot in Nashville. The owner of the lot proceeded to track and follow the suspect to an alley off St. Louis Street.
As the car lot owner pulled up behind Padgett, the suspect reportedly reversed the truck "and rammed the vehicle the owner was in before fleeing." Police said charges are also anticipated in connection with this incident.
Padgett kept driving — even as authorities were aware of the alleged theft. According to the law enforcement agency, a "plainclothes detective" was in an unmarked police SUV "at the connector road between Murfreesboro Pike and Old Murfreesboro Pike" in the city when the suspect rammed the vehicle, leading to the attempted criminal homicide charge.
The officer in the unmarked SUV was OK, area NBC affiliate WSMV reported. Police also sent a helicopter to track the stolen pickup truck.
A police pursuit continued on Murfreesboro Pike, with speeds reportedly reaching up to 80 mph. About five minutes after the incident with the unmarked vehicle, Fadero was also on the Nashville road.
She tried to turn off Murfreesboro Pike onto Hickory Woods Drive when Padgett — driving on the wrong side of the road — "violently struck" the driver's side of her Hyundai Elantra sedan, authorities say. The collision is said to have sent both vehicles careening about 100 yards into a ditch.
Aerial footage from local CBS affiliate WTVF showed extensive damage to the sedan in the aftermath of the crash, with the pickup truck appearing to be lodged into the driver's side of the vehicle.
Fadero died. Padgett was taken to an area hospital with "minor injuries." After being taken to and discharged from a hospital, he was arrested on Saturday.
Padgett had "at least 20 criminal convictions in five Tennessee counties" before the crash, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said. He was jailed on $805,000 bond.
A GoFundMe for Fadero says she was turning onto the road where she lived when she was killed.
"She was simply on her way home, and her dog Nala was with her in the car," the fundraiser states, adding that "[m]iraculously, Nala survived the crash and was reunited with Oluwalayomi's loved ones."
"[T]he loss of Oluwalayomi has left a deep void in the hearts of everyone who knew her," it goes on, saying Fadero was set to complete a nursing degree at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in August. "Oluwalayomi was known for her kindness, her bright spirit, and the love she shared with her family, friends, and her dog Nala."
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