TALLAHASSEE, Fla.(WTXL) — Police say a Tallahassee man has been arrested in connection to the pedestrian crash on West Tennessee Street that killed a woman and seriously injured a child back in March.
According to court documents, a 2017 Yellow Dodge Charger four door Sedan was speeding down West Tennessee Street on March 16.
Tallahassee Police say as the car passed through the intersection of West Tennessee Street and White Drive, the driver made an evasive maneuver, causing the car to hit a curb and continue across the intersection of Dixie Drive.
Documents say the driver left the road and hit the curb with such force that a large chunk of concrete was missing from the curb.
The driver then hit two trees near the sidewalk and a StarMetro bus stop pole with an attached trash can.
Police say the vehicle also crashed into a woman, identified as Wendy Woodruff in the arrest documents, and her grandchild as she pushed the child's stroller down the sidewalk.
After hitting the pedestrians, the vehicle continued down the sidewalk, dragging both of the victims.
The car rotated 180 degrees and came to a stop in the grass area of a parking lot in the 2500 block of West Tennessee Street.
Due to the injuries sustained in the crash, Woodruff was pronounced deceased at the scene. The child sustained life-threatening injuries and was transported to Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
During the investigation, an un-involved driver who witnessed the crash stated that the driver was "going a lot faster than [he] realized."
The driver was later identified as 23-year-old Henry Wilson III, who sustained no injuries during the crash.
While investigating the scene, officers spoke with Wilson who said he was driving down West Tennessee Street when he "hit the brakes and lost control."
Wilson also provided the following written statement: "On March 16, 2020, I was driving down Tennessee St. and I was going to go get gas and a black car pulled out in front of me and I hit the brakes and lost control of my car and hit a woman and her baby that was walking."
Court documents say one of the passengers in the Charger also told police they felt like they were about to die.
As the investigation continued, police gathered videos from City of Tallahassee traffic cameras which showed Wilson driving on West Tennessee Street at Ocala Road at a high speed rate and passing several vehicles.
Investigators say the vehicle also passed "two business driveways, one uncontrolled intersection, one side road, three median breaks, and seven residential driveways,” court documents say.
According to the arrest report, the Charger was, at a maximum, going nearly 100 mph roughly four and half seconds before the crash. Just 0.1 second before the impact, the report stated the car was going at least 58.79 MPH.
While the child's grandmother died in the crash, the child who was injured was taken to a rehab facility in Orlando to learn how to swallow along with speech and physical therapy. Court documents say the child will likely have special needs and will be visually impaired because of the crash.
Based on the evidence, Wilson was arrested and transported to the Leon County Detention Facility on Tuesday. He is facing charges of vehicular homicide and reckless driving with serious bodily injury.
