ROGERSVILLE — The district attorney’s office has ordered an autopsy for an 84-year-old Hawkins County woman who passed away Monday, six weeks after being involved in a head-on collision allegedly caused by Rogersville businessman Roger Stewart.
Thelma Hughes of Surgoinsville was celebrating her 84th birthday with her son and a juvenile family member on June 11 when the wreck occurred.
Stewart, 59, 5281 Highway 11-W, Rogersville, has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment as a result of the wreck.
Rogersville Assistant Attorney General Kevin Keeton said Monday those charges can be amended.
“The investigation is still ongoing, and until the investigation is complete I can’t comment on any possible new charge,” Keeton said. “We’ve asked for an autopsy as part of the continuing investigation. A charge can be amended in any case through the grand jury process.
“This case is still in sessions court, but the state has the right to ask for a preliminary hearing on any charge, and that would take it on to the grand jury. We’re conducting an investigation, and when all the facts have been gathered we’ll charge the appropriate charge.”
Police said Stewart was driving west on Highway 11-W just west of Rogersville when he crossed over into the eastbound 11-W lane at the Corbin Heights Drive intersection.
Stewart allegedly continued traveling west in the eastbound lane as a shortcut to get into the parking lot of R&R Auto Sales, which he co-owns with his brother.
Police said Stewart traveled 50 to 75 feet in the wrong lane past the intersection before hitting head on an eastbound vehicle driven by Jerry Earl “James” Hughes, 60, of Surgoinsville.
Stewart told police he was test driving the vehicle, which belonged to the car lot. He allegedly stated to police he had performed the same short cut 1,000 times, and nothing ever happened.
Stewart is scheduled to appear in Hawkins County Sessions Court Sept. 5 on the charges.
Late last month, the Hughes family filed a $2.75 million lawsuit against Stewart and R&R Auto Sales.
Thelma Hughes’ injuries as listed in the lawsuit included cervical vertebral body fracture; lumbar spine fractures; left wrist fracture; fractured sternum; multiple rib fractures on both right and left side; and other soft tissue injuries from the cervical spine to the lumbar spine including upper extremities.
Rogersville attorney Mark Stapleton, who represents the Hughes family, said Monday the lawsuit will be amended in due time from a personal injury lawsuit to a wrongful death lawsuit.
“It’s been a very hard six weeks for the family of Thelma Hughes,” Stapleton said. “She woke up the morning of her 84th birthday in good health and ended the day fighting for her life. She lost that battle today (Monday), and it is with great sadness her family walked out of that hospital this morning leaving her behind.”
Stapleton said that based on what’s listed in the Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA), he believes the attorney general’s office and grand jury have a couple of felonies to choose from if Stewart’s charges are upgraded.
“I think any reasonable physician is going to be able to say with 100 percent certainty that if Thelma Hughes hadn’t been a victim in this accident on June 11, she wouldn’t have passed away on July 23,” Stapleton said. “I think this is a criminally negligent homicide case. He intentionally made the decision to go down the wrong side of the highway, and so this tragedy is a result of that criminal intent.”
Criminally negligent homicide is defined by the TCA as criminally negligent conduct that results in death. It is a Class E felony punishable by one to two years in prison.
Reckless homicide is defined under the TCA as a reckless killing of another. According to the TCA, a person acts recklessly when the person is aware of, but consciously disregards, a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the alleged victim will be killed. It is a Class D felony punishable by two to four years in prison.
“Intentionally driving the wrong way on a four-lane highway is obviously substantially risky activity,” Stapleton said. “It’s stupid. There’s nothing good about it.”