MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis driver faces misdemeanor charges after police say he killed a pedestrian and crashed into two other vehicles at Kirby Parkway and 385 Monday afternoon.
Derrius Calicutt,18, was booked in the Shelby County Jail for driving without a license and proof of insurance.
Police said Calicutt was Southbound on Kirby Parkway in a Chevy Tahoe when he struck a pedestrian standing on the median and slammed into two other vehicles.
After the crash, Calicutt went live on Facebook for an hour, saying he wasn’t responsible for the three-car pile-up and didn’t want to go to jail.
“Where did that girl go?” said Calicutt. “She made me wreck. Where did that girl go? She grabbed my wheel. She grabbed my wheel. I can’t go to jail.”
Friends and family have identified the man killed as 35-year-old Sean Watts. Watt’s best friend Steven Miller said Watts had been homeless on and off for about five years, and he believes he was panhandling along Kirby Parkway when he was hit.
“It was a freak accident. I really didn’t believe it,” said Miller. ” I called his phone yesterday, and somebody picked up and said he got hit by a car. They hit him from behind and killed him. He was dead.”
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Some witnesses at the accident scene appeared to back up Calicutt’s story during his Facebook live.
“Five to ten cars saw that girl grabbing the wheel before I said anything,” said Calicutt.
Miller said he tried to help Watts by letting him stay with him and giving him a job, but Watts battled drug and alcohol addiction and ended up back on the streets.
“He overdosed hundreds of times, I know of, and God kept him here for a reason. God just wanted to take him yesterday, you know,” said Miller
No one else was injured in the accident. So far, Calicutt is the only person who has been charged.
