Car involved in fatal crash was on test drive from auto dealership (Updated)

Two people died Sunday on Fern Valley Road when their car was struck by another that was on a test drive from an auto dealership. The driver of the car from the dealership was charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter, Louisville Metro Police said.

The crash occurred about 1 p.m. when a Dodge Challenger traveling west on Fern Valley hit a Mercury Sable that had pulled onto Fern Valley from the Pebble Creek apartment complex on Fern Valley Way, said metro police spokesman Dwight Mitchell.

The man and woman in the Sable were pronounced dead at the scene, Mitchell said. They were not immediately identified.
The driver of the Challenger, Brian Lee, 30, was taken to University Hospital, Mitchell said. He was being held Sunday night at Metro Corrections, Mitchell said.


Sgt. Todd Shaw said the man was test-driving the Challenger from Commonwealth Dodge on Preston Highway, and a sales representative was in the vehicle at the time of the crash, as well as the driver's brother.

Full article here

 

A salesman riding as a passenger during a customer's test drive of a car that crashed into another car, killing two people, begged the driver to slow down twice before the accident, the auto dealership's president says.

More....

 

Holy crap. they should never let him drive again for totalling a new challenger

 

He should be locked behind bars for a very long timed for the murders of these two innocent victims. I have no tolerence for this .... I had someone I loved taken from me due to a idiot behind a wheel.

 

I agree. I didn't mean to say the Challenger was more important than the two victims. It was a poor attempt at humor.

 

It's cool

 

Jury recommends 5 years for speeding test-driver convicted of manslaughter in fatal collision

A Jefferson County jury has recommended a 5-year sentence for a Louisville man it convicted Friday on two counts of second-degree manslaughter for test-driving a
carat speeds surpassing 100 mph before a fatal collision on Fern Valley Road

​

The jury handed down its verdict shortly after 2:30 p.m. against Bryan Scott Lee, 32, was driving a Dodge Challenger in a 45 mph zone about 1 p.m. Aug. 23 when the vehicle hit a Mercury Sable as it pulled onto Fern Valley Road from the Pebble Creek apartment complex on Fern Valley Way.

The Sable's driver, Toya Buckner-Dioum, 40, of the 6300 block of Fern Valley Way, and passenger Sherman King Sr., 63, of the 2500 block of Meadow Drive, died at the scene of multiple blunt-force injuries.

Lee was driving the Challenger from Commonwealth Dodge on Preston Highway, and a sales representative and Lee's brother were in the car, police have said.
“I’m very pleased with it,” said Shatova Buckner-Ramsey, the daughter of Buckner-Dioum and grandaughter of King. “You don’t ever wish to see someone’s freedom taken away, but my mom and grandfather had their lives taken away.

“I just felt like it was justice — whether he meant to do it or didn’t.”

The jury recommended five years to be served concurrently; the penalty for each manslaughter count is five to 10 years in prison.
Lee will be sentenced on Oct. 20.

During sentencing testimony, Lee wept while expressing remorse to Buckner-Dioum and King’s family in the courtroom.
“It’s been a long two years,” he said. “I feel like I’ve let a lot of good people down. Not only my own family, but a family I don’t even know. Unfortunately, it was an instance where two people made a mistake at the same time.”

Lee had told police that he was testing the Challenger’s power but was driving no faster than 60 miles per hour, The Courier-Journal reported in 2009. He also claimed that two cars pulled out in front of him simultaneously, including Bucknever-Dioum’s Sable, which he said run a stop sign and stopped in the road.

Commonwealth Dodge President Billy Hays has said the salesman "begged" Lee to slow down twice and did not encourage him to speed.
It also said the dealership "was not complicit" with Lee's "reckless driving," and that the salesman also was injured in the crash.

Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110826/NEWS01/308260079/Speeding-test-driver-guilty-manslaughter-fatal-collision?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

 

that could happen to anyone not knowing the power of the challenger, especially 09 if he was driving an SRT, this dude just picked the wrong road to act like an idiot down. I hope he and the people who saw this think about it before they get behind the wheel again.

 

OMG What an idiot; If you can't handle the power of a V8 engine then stay the hell away from the wheel! Do we not know what the definition of "test drive" is? It's not a test 1/4 mile......; sorry for getting my Irish up but I saw too many deaths from MVA's when I was a paramedic. God Bless those 2 souls who lost their lives

 

UPDATE: 2 years later... [h=1]Louisville man driving dealership car when fatal crash occurred gets 5 years for manslaughter[/h]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville man has been sentenced to five years in prison for a crash that killed two people during a test drive that exceeded 100 miles per hour.
Bryan Lee was convicted in August of second-degree manslaughter in the deaths of 40-year-old Toya Buckner-Dioum and Sherman King Sr., 63.
Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett says Lee had shown no remorse and blamed everyone but himself for his driving in the 2009 crash, according to The Courier-Journal (http://bit.ly/n7tLsb ).
Lee was driving a Dodge Challenger from a dealership that struck a car driven by Buckner-Dioum. He says he was driving no faster than 60 mph, but the car's computer revealed he was going 102 mph in a 45 zone.
Lee's attorney, Jim Earhart, says Lee is a good candidate for probation because he was not a threat to re-offend.
___
Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

 

UPDATE: 2 years later... [h=1]Louisville man driving dealership car when fatal crash occurred gets 5 years for manslaughter[/h]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville man has been sentenced to five years in prison for a crash that killed two people during a test drive that exceeded 100 miles per hour.
Bryan Lee was convicted in August of second-degree manslaughter in the deaths of 40-year-old Toya Buckner-Dioum and Sherman King Sr., 63.
Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett says Lee had shown no remorse and blamed everyone but himself for his driving in the 2009 crash, according to The Courier-Journal (http://bit.ly/n7tLsb ).
Lee was driving a Dodge Challenger from a dealership that struck a car driven by Buckner-Dioum. He says he was driving no faster than 60 mph, but the car's computer revealed he was going 102 mph in a 45 zone.
Lee's attorney, Jim Earhart, says Lee is a good candidate for probation because he was not a threat to re-offend.
___
Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

 

Very sad. One of the reasons I got the six cylinder is that I didn't see the need for that kind of power on the street. As long as I can merge on the get-on ramps ok, then I'm fine with that. It's just too tempting to mash the go pedal. When I was 18 (just out of boot camp USCG 1978), my brother and I test drove a 1976 Nova SS 350 4 speed and got it up to 110 mph on a deserted side road. I thought back on that and this could have happened to most of us here at one time or another. I'm older and wiser now and drive like a grandpop (in order to maximize my mileage). I feel sorry for all that were involved in this accident.

 

It's sad and all and I'm not saying the driver isn't responsible cuz that was flat out retarded 100+ in a 45....

But I've NEVER been on a test drive and the sales rep didn't beg me to get on it.. Even my wife's Infiniti QX, the dude was like floor it man see what she's got!! That's how they sell to bros. me being a cautious one would never speed in a car I didn't own and definitely wouldn't floor it.

I guess what I'm saying is everyone was full of **** in this case.

 

Not that I would ever believe a car dealer but I don't know why he did take the keys.
I have reached over at said if you don't slow down I am shutting the car off.