Nashville police have arrested a man in Downtown Nashville on his 25th birthday after a Wisconsin man was struck and killed while waiting for a ride.
Leroy Wienke, 66, of Westfield, Wisconsin, was waiting with his wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Thursday night near the intersection of 4th Avenue North and Commerce Street when the crash happened just before midnight, police said. A news release.
Police said John A. Williams was arrested at the scene.
Police said Williams was driving his 2017 Mercedes C30 eastbound on Commerce Street at a high rate of speed, noting that as he crossed the intersection of 4th Avenue North, Williams swerved to the right to avoid hitting a car stopped in the roadway. Turned away.
“The Mercedes then went off the roadway and onto the sidewalk, where four pedestrians, Wienke, his wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law were struck,” police said in the news release.
The Mercedes then drove back onto the roadway, where it struck a parked Ford Explorer and came to rest in the middle of Commerce Street, police said.
According to Williams’ arrest affidavit, Wienke had no pulse when police arrived at the scene. An officer began CPR on Wienke until he was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Wienke’s wife and sister-in-law suffered non-life-threatening injuries. A front seat passenger in Williams’ car was also treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said Williams smelled strongly of alcohol and was speaking slurred, his legs were unsteady and his eyes were bloodshot. Officers also believed the car smelled like marijuana and found several empty alcohol bottles, the affidavit said.
When police asked for his identification, Williams refused to provide it and initially told an officer he was driving a different car, according to his affidavit.
When officers tried to talk to the passengers in Williams’ car, they all said they couldn’t describe what happened because “they were on their phones,” the affidavit says.
Williams was charged with one count of murder by vehicle, three counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and three counts of assault by vehicle. He is being held at the Downtown Detention Center on $105,000 bond.
This article was originally published on the Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Police: Tourists attacked in suspected DUI crash, one dead
