An Ohio man’s claim that he was unaware the tire that rolled off his truck may have killed someone was debunked by a year-old jailhouse phone call discovered by detectives, authorities said.
Lauren Collins, an 18-year-old rising sophomore at the University of Kentucky studying fashion merchandising, died of her injuries after a runaway tire rolled across the concrete barrier on I-75 near the Ohio border, smashing through her windshield shortly after midnight on July 16, 2023, according to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.
Six days after the collision, 37-year-old Ricky A. Raider reported himself to the Independence Police Department, stating “he lost a tire on the interstate over the past weekend but didn’t believe his tire had hit anyone,” according to a June 21 press release.
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However, a recording of a phone call between Raider and a female inmate at the Bullitt County Detention Center, about 100 miles away from that police department, obtained by Sgt. Jeff Nagy of the Independence Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Unit, painted a different picture of the collision, exposing the driver to criminal prosecution.
According to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, Raider informed the female caller on the night Collins was slain that a tire had fallen off his 1993 Ford F-250 earlier that evening.
He claimed to the prisoner that he “witnessed the tire collide with Collins’ vehicle” but also “knew that the collision likely resulted in someone being hurt or killed.”
He claimed he recovered the tire, which had come to rest along the concrete barrier separating the north and southbound lanes, reattached it to his truck, and fled the scene.
“What he did was he stole lug nuts from other wheels to secure that tire just to get it up the road and off the interstate,” Maj. Philip Ridgell of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office told Fox 19.
On June 4, Raider was indicted for leaving the scene of an accident/failure to provide aid with death or significant physical injury, as well as one count of persistent felony offender first offense, according to the agency.
According to online jail records, he was booked into Boone County Jail on June 12 and is currently being held on $40,000 bond. According to Fox 19, he sought a public defender during his Wednesday court appearance, and his next court hearing is July 24 as per FOXNEWS.