An FBI task force is looking into whether a hit-and-run that left two people dead in 2013 may have been caused by a man who was a deputy recruit at a Tennessee training academy. On July 24, police visited the Shelby County sheriff’s training academy and took a 24-year-old man into custody on suspicion of hitting two people and leaving the scene of the fatal crash.
The accident occurred Aug. 18, 2013, on Interstate 40 in the vicinity of Warford Street in Memphis. According to reports, a 34-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man were standing beside a disabled car when the man, driving a pickup truck, allegedly struck and killed both of them and then left the scene. Officers have charged him with multiple offenses, including two counts of murder, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death and one count of reckless homicide.
The fiancé and the mother of one of the deceased, a 34-year-old woman, have been asking that justice be served in what had become a cold case. A tip generated by a previous news story apparently helped investigators to identify the suspected driver, who is no longer a recruit. Prior to being taken into custody, the only blemish on the former recruit’s record was running a red light in 2013.
When a traffic accident results in death, the family of the deceased may be able to seek financial compensation from the driver who caused the crash. A wrongful death claim would involve proving that the crash was a result of a negligent act performed by someone other than the deceased. Compensation from one of these claims might be provided for the family’s loss of financial support and any related expenses.
Source: WMC, “Former SCSO recruit charged with murder in fatal hit-and-run“, Ashli Blow and Jason Miles, July 25, 2014