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Jurors in the Rodney Hinton Jr. trial can now weigh reckless homicide in the death of Deputy Larry Henderson. Judge Jody Luebbers announced the decision Thursday in Hamilton County.

Hinton faces aggravated murder for driving into Henderson on May 2, 2025. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Defense lawyer Clyde Bennett pushed for the lesser charge. He said Hinton’s driving looked consistent with a suicide attempt. Bennett noted Hinton’s mental illness history. He also said family members worried Hinton might hurt himself after viewing the body-camera video of his son’s shooting earlier that day.

Prosecutors fought the request. Kip Guinan said the state sees intentional murder, not suicide. He argued that any suicide attempt would still be a deliberate act.

Luebbers agreed suicide is purposeful but said the reckless question centers on how Henderson died. She pointed to mixed witness statements about the car’s path. Some saw Hinton aim at the deputy. One saw him head for a pole before the impact.

The ruling leaves the main charge intact. It simply gives jurors another choice during deliberations.

Psychologist Dr. Jaime Adkins took the stand for the state. She said Hinton’s severe mental disease did not erase his knowledge of right and wrong that day. Adkins linked his actions to acute grief rather than active psychosis. She testified Hinton later said he “sorta, kinda wanted to hit the officer.”

Rodney Hinton Jr. faces aggravated murder charges in the death of Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Henderson. The crash happened May 2, 2025. Hinton has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Judge Jody Luebbers ruled Thursday that jurors can also consider reckless homicide as a lesser charge. She made the call after hearing from both sides.

Defense attorney Clyde Bennett said evidence could point to different intents. He argued Hinton’s actions looked consistent with suicide or with homicide. Bennett pointed to Hinton’s history of mental illness and major depressive disorder. Relatives feared Hinton might harm himself after he watched police body-camera video of his son Ryan’s fatal shooting hours earlier.

Prosecutors opposed the lesser charge. Prosecutor Kip Guinan said the state believes Hinton intentionally targeted Henderson. Guinan argued that suicide itself is intentional, not reckless.

Luebbers said the reckless homicide question focuses on Henderson’s death, not on whether Hinton meant to kill himself. She noted conflicting eyewitness accounts. Some said Hinton drove straight at the deputy. One said he aimed at a utility pole first and the car bounced into Henderson.

The judge told jurors they will decide how much weight to give each witness. The aggravated murder charge stays in place. Jurors simply get one more option when they deliberate.

State psychologist Dr. Jaime Adkins testified that Hinton had schizoaffective disorder but showed no acute symptoms that day. She said grief and trauma from his son’s death explained his behavior. Adkins concluded Hinton still knew his actions were wrong.

A motorcycle struck a concrete wall on the Ontario Street feeder ramp just before 3 p.m. Wednesday. The rider went over the edge. She dropped onto the southbound lanes of the Kennedy Expressway.

Her name was Kaitlin Rose Wagner Zbonski. She was 29 and lived on Chicago’s Northwest Side. The crash happened in Cook County.

Paramedics took her to Stroger Hospital. She was pronounced dead at 3:51 p.m. The medical examiner’s office made it official.

Illinois State Police shut down several lanes. The expressway stayed closed until about 6 p.m. Drivers sat in long backups while the cleanup finished.

The feeder ramp links local streets to the big highway. It sees heavy traffic every day. One wrong move and the wall is right there.

No other cars got hit in the reports so far. The bike alone made contact with the concrete. Then gravity took over.

Police keep working the case. They have not released more on speed or road conditions. The ramp stays a spot drivers watch close now.

Kaitlin Rose Wagner Zbonski was 29. She lived on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Wednesday afternoon she rode her motorcycle on the Ontario Street feeder ramp of the Kennedy Expressway.

Shortly before 3 p.m. the bike hit a concrete wall. She went over the wall. She landed on the southbound lanes of traffic below.

Crews got her to Stroger Hospital. Doctors pronounced her dead at 3:51 p.m. The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed it.

Illinois State Police handled the scene. Several lanes of the expressway closed after the crash. They reopened around 6 p.m.

The ramp sits in Cook County. It feeds into one of Chicago’s busiest roads. Traffic backed up for hours while crews worked.

Zbonski drove alone that day. No other vehicles were involved according to the first reports. The wall stopped the bike cold.

Investigators still look at what happened on that ramp. No extra details have come out yet. Her name now marks another fatal crash on the Kennedy.

A motorcycle carrying two people hit a curve on the Barrancas Avenue Bridge Wednesday night. The driver lost control around 8 p.m. The bike crashed hard.

Angela Nieto rode as the passenger. She worked as a detective for the Pensacola Police Department. She was off duty at the time. She died at the scene.

The man driving was a friend of hers. He went to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. His name stays private for now.

Pensacola police teamed up with the Florida Highway Patrol on the investigation. No one has said exactly why the bike went down in that curve.

The crash shut down the bridge that connects Barrancas Avenue and Pace Boulevard. It crosses Bayou Chico in Escambia County. The city of Pensacola sits in Florida’s Panhandle near Alabama.

Authorities still dig into the details. The precise cause remains unknown. The driver remains unidentified in public reports.

Local crews responded fast. The bridge saw heavy activity that night. Questions about the crash linger with no fresh answers yet.

Angela Nieto sat on the back of a motorcycle Wednesday night. She was off duty. A male friend drove. They headed east on the Barrancas Avenue Bridge over Bayou Chico.

Around 8 p.m. the driver lost control in a curve. The bike went down. Nieto died right there on the bridge.

The friend got hurt but not in a life-threatening way. Ambulances took him to a local hospital. Nieto stayed at the scene.

Pensacola police and the Florida Highway Patrol both work the case now. They have not said what made the driver lose control. They have not named the man either.

The bridge links the area near Barrancas Avenue and Pace Boulevard. It sits in Escambia County. Pensacola sits in Florida’s western Panhandle close to the Alabama line.

Nieto worked as a detective for the Pensacola Police Department. She rode as a passenger that night. The crash ended her life in seconds.

Friends and fellow officers still wait for answers. The investigation continues with no new details released yet.

Ruby Y Adan Rodriguez and her husband died side by side Wednesday night when their SUV flipped and burned on a service road in East Austin.

The crash happened around 9:59 p.m. in the 1000 block of the southbound Ed Bluestein Boulevard service road near Bolm Road. The vehicle struck a curb, rolled over, and caught fire almost right away.

Firefighters got there fast and forced open two doors. Inside they found the couple already gone. Medics declared them dead at the scene.

A third adult rode in the same SUV. Crews pulled that person out and rushed them to Dell Seton Medical Center with critical injuries that could still take a life.

Neighbors nearby heard the loud crash and then saw the flames light up the dark road. Traffic backed up for hours while crews worked the wreckage.

Ruby and her husband shared a home and a life until that one moment on the service road ended both. Friends say the pair always rode together.

The third person remains in the hospital fighting hard. No other vehicles were involved. Police are still looking into what made the SUV hit the curb.

Two people left this world together on a quiet East Austin stretch of road. The survivor now carries the weight of that night alone.

A quiet stretch of Galena Road in Peoria County, Illinois turned deadly Monday for Cody Bridgewater. The 38-year-old was behind the wheel when his vehicle rolled over in the 6700 block. Help arrived around 12:20 p.m.

He was already out of the car when first responders reached the scene. The force of the crash had ejected him. They rushed him to OSF in bad shape. No pulse. No breathing.

Medical staff tried everything. At 1:18 p.m. they called the time of death. Coroner Jamie Harwood confirmed multiple blunt force trauma as the cause.

Pending toxicology results will fill in more of the picture. Authorities follow the usual steps while the investigation moves forward.

This was no multi-car pileup or dramatic chase. Just one vehicle, one driver, and a sudden end on a familiar road. That fact sits heavy with people who travel the same path.

Cody’s story ends too soon. The crash leaves questions that may never get full answers. What remains is the hard truth of a life cut short in the middle of an otherwise normal day.

Local roads see their share of close calls. This one did not end with a second chance. It ended with a name and a time of death that families in Peoria County will not soon forget.

Cody Bridgewater was just 38 years old when a single-vehicle rollover on Galena Road ended his life. It happened Monday in the 6700 block in Peoria County, Illinois. First responders got the call around 12:20 that afternoon.

They found him already outside the vehicle. He had been thrown clear during the crash. Crews got him to OSF hospital right away. He had no pulse and was not breathing.

Doctors worked on him but could not bring him back. He was pronounced dead at 1:18 p.m. Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said the cause was multiple blunt force injuries from the wreck.

Toxicology tests are still pending. That is standard procedure in these cases. Investigators continue looking into what led up to the rollover.

Cody lived an ordinary day that turned into something no one saw coming. One minute the road was just another stretch of pavement. The next it claimed a life.

Friends and family now face the quiet that follows sudden loss. The details stay hard to process. He leaves behind the kind of empty space that hits close to home for anyone who knew him.

People in the area drive that same stretch of Galena Road every day. Moments like this remind folks how fast things can change on a regular Monday afternoon.

Justin Thomas, 32, faces serious charges after a police chase turned deadly in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday afternoon. He was behind the wheel of a matte black Cadillac when it all went down near South Third Street.

The Memphis Safe Task Force had the car under watch in the 800 block of Red Leaf Lane. Thomas had fled agents during an earlier stop. He also carried an active warrant for a weapons charge. Task force members saw him climb into the driver’s seat with Renisha Thompson as passenger. He started making U-turns to lose them.

Thomas pulled onto West Shelby Drive. Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers moved in for a stop near South Third Street. He refused and sped off. The chase kicked in right away.

It ended just before the West Levi Road intersection. The Cadillac crashed into four vehicles. Thompson was ejected and died at the scene. Thomas suffered serious injuries and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Two other motorists walked away with minor injuries.

Prosecutors charged Thomas with vehicular manslaughter, possession of controlled substances, speeding, and fleeing law enforcement. This was not his first run-in. In August he was charged after leading a trooper on a chase along Kirby Parkway and Knight Arnold Road.

The whole thing started with surveillance and ended with one person dead and three hurt. Thomas remains hospitalized while the case moves forward. Locals around West Shelby Drive and South Third Street saw the aftermath of another high-speed mess.