DUI Checkpoints & Crime on the Road, Sobriety Checkpoints

October 31, 2009

Convicted Felon Percy Thompson Facing Vehicular Homicide Charge in Death of 3-Year-Old Boy

Convicted felon Percy D. Thompson is named in arrest warrants charging vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, failure to render aid, and evading arrest in connection with this afternoon’s two-car crash on Brick Church Pike at Ewing Drive that claimed the life of a three-year-old boy.

Witnesses reported that Thompson, 23, was driving a 2000 model Lexus sedan northbound on Brick Church Pike at a high rate of speed and was weaving in and out of traffic. He lost control of the car at 1:15 p.m. near the Ewing Drive intersection and skidded into the southbound lane of Brick Church Pike. The Lexus collided with the driver’s side of a 2003 Ford Taurus. Thompson kept driving, abandoned the Lexus in the 3000 block of Brick Church Pike, and fled on foot. A witness reported Thompson’s direction of flight to responding Officer Gary Smith, who spotted Thompson running across I-24. Officer Smith chased Thompson into a nearby field and took him into custody. Thompson appeared to be impaired and smelled of alcohol.

The Taurus was occupied by three persons, driver Stephanie Crutcher, 20, of Creekwood Drive, front seat passenger Paige Buchanan, 21, of N. Dupont Avenue in Madison, and rear seat passenger Danius Buchanan, 3, Paige Buchanan’s son. Danius Buchanan received critical injuries and died at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. Paige Buchanan was not injured. Crutcher received non-life threatening injuries and was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Danius Buchanan was sitting on a child booster seat and was belted in. However, given his age, a child safety seat, not a booster, should have been used.

Thompson, of Emerald Bay Boulevard, was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center for treatment of non-critical injuries. He will be booked on the arrest warrants upon his discharge from the hospital.

Records reflect that Thompson registered with the Metropolitan Police Department as an ex-convict in 2006 in relation to a robbery conviction. Including today’s warrants, Thompson has been charged with 59 offenses by Nashville Police between September 2001 and September 2009.
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