Months after a violent three-vehicle wreck on Highway 70 left one man dead, a Nashville driver is now facing a serious felony charge. William Richards, 48, has been charged with vehicular homicide by intoxication in connection with the mid-April crash that killed 59-year-old David Elliott. Richards, who was badly hurt in the collision, was taken from the scene and treated at a local hospital.
An arrest affidavit reviewed by WSMV states that Richards was behind the wheel of a white Ford F-150 when the truck veered off the roadway, went onto the shoulder, then came back onto Highway 70 and crossed into oncoming traffic. His vehicle collided with a pickup driven by Elliott, according to the affidavit, and a third vehicle, a Dodge Ram, then hit one of the trucks, triggering a chain-reaction crash.
In an April media release, the Metro Nashville Police Department said the collision occurred just before 5:30 p.m. on Highway 70 at Beverly Hills Drive near the Cheatham County line. Elliott died at the scene, according to police. Two passengers riding with him were rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center with injuries police described as non-life-threatening, while Richards was taken to Vanderbilt in critical condition.
Toxicology And Charges
Investigators obtained a search warrant to draw Richards’s blood while he was hospitalized. The arrest affidavit states that toxicology results later showed he tested positive for THC. Based on physical evidence at the scene, officer observations, and those blood results, authorities concluded Richards appeared to be impaired at the time of the wreck, and prosecutors charged him with vehicular homicide by intoxication, according to the affidavit cited by WSMV…