Tourist killed after car plows into group waiting on rideshare downtown

Nashville police arrested a man out in Downtown Nashville on his 25th birthday after a Wisconsin man was hit and killed waiting for a rideshare.

Leroy Wienke, 66, of Westfield, Wisconsin, was waiting with his wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law near the intersection of 4th Avenue North and Commerce Street Thursday night when the crash happened just before midnight, police said in a news release.

John A. Williams was arrested at the scene, police said.

Williams was driving his 2017 Mercedes C30 east on Commerce Street at a high speed, police said, noting that as he crossed the 4th Avenue North intersection, Williams swerved to the right to avoid hitting a car that had stopped in the road.

“The Mercedes then traveled over the curb and onto the sidewalk, where the four pedestrians, Wienke, his wife, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law, were struck,” police said in the news release.

The Mercedes then swerved back towards the road, where it hit a parked Ford Explorer and stopped in the middle of Commerce Street, police said.

According to Williams’ arrest affidavit, Wienke did not have a pulse when police arrived on 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.

Williams smelled strongly of alcohol and had slurred speech, was unsteady on his feet and had bloodshot eyes, police said. Officers also believe the car smelled like marijuana, and they found several empty bottles of alcohol, 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 give an account of what happened because “they were on their phones,” the affidavit said.

Williams was charged with one count of vehicular homicide, three counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and three counts of vehicular assault. He’s being held at the Downtown Detention Center on $105,000 bond.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Police: Tourists hit, one killed in suspected DUI crash