Category: Uncategorized

An 18-year-old was behind the wheel of a 2010 Chrysler Sebring on Wednesday night when everything changed. Ni’yeya Chappell drove on Jimmie Dyess Parkway near Interstate 20 in Columbia County. Amiya Janelle Hogan, 17, rode in the front passenger seat.

At about 8:55 p.m. the Chrysler turned in front of a 2020 Mercury driven by 60-year-old Michael Pruett. The Mercury struck the passenger side. The Chrysler spun into a guardrail and a street sign.

Amiya was rushed to the hospital. She died from her injuries.

Chappell was injured too. A 13-year-old passenger named Alyssa Figueroa was also hurt. Both were taken to Doctors Hospital.

Officials determined Chappell caused the crash. Charges are pending as she recovers. Investigators continue looking into the details.

One turn in traffic led to a fatal outcome for the young passenger. The other two in the car are dealing with their own injuries and what comes next.

The road where it happened stays busy most nights. This one ended with a life lost and questions still open.

Amiya Janelle Hogan sat in the front passenger seat of a 2010 Chrysler Sebring on Wednesday night. She was 17. The car was driven by 18-year-old Ni’yeya Chappell. They were on Jimmie Dyess Parkway near Interstate 20 in Columbia County.

Around 8:55 p.m. the Chrysler turned in front of a 2020 Mercury. Michael Pruett, 60, was driving that Mercury. It hit the passenger side of the Chrysler hard. The impact spun the Chrysler into a guardrail and a street sign.

Amiya was taken to a hospital right away. Her injuries were too severe. She did not survive.

Ni’yeya Chappell was hurt in the crash. So was 13-year-old Alyssa Figueroa, another passenger. Both went to Doctors Hospital for treatment.

Authorities say Chappell was at fault. Charges are pending while she recovers. The investigation is still going on.

Amiya was just 17. She had her whole life ahead. A young person gone in one sudden crash on a local road.

Family and friends now face the quiet that follows such a loss. The details of that night remain clear in the reports from the scene.

A 36-year-old Dothan man named Charlie Lee Wright Jr. was killed in a crash on Ross Clark Circle early Thursday. It was a single-car wreck right around 2 a.m. near the 2700 block.

His vehicle drifted off the pavement briefly. Control slipped away after that. The car rolled and tossed him out onto the ground nearby.

First responders got there and found him off the roadway. They declared him dead at the scene. It was over before the sun came up.

Investigators point to speed as a possible factor. The probe is still open. Dothan police have their specialized crash unit on it.

Charlie was local. He had roots in the area and people who cared about him. A wreck like this hits hard because it comes without any warning at all.

Traffic on the northbound side of Ross Clark Circle stayed blocked while they processed everything. The Houston County coroner showed up as part of the response.

These early morning crashes leave questions that do not get answered right away. Charlie Lee Wright Jr. is gone, and the road where it happened keeps carrying traffic like nothing stopped.

Charlie Lee Wright Jr. died early Thursday in a single-vehicle crash on Ross Clark Circle in Dothan. He was 36 years old. The wreck happened just before 2 a.m. in the 2700 block.

Police say his vehicle left the roadway for a short stretch. Then the driver lost control. The car flipped over. Charlie was thrown out.

Officers found him lying just off the road. He was pronounced dead right there at the scene. No one else was in the vehicle.

Speed looks like it played a part in what happened. The Dothan Police Department is still digging into the details. Their crash team is handling the investigation.

Charlie lived in Dothan. People who knew him say he was just a regular guy trying to get by like everybody else. Now his family and friends are left picking up the pieces after a sudden loss.

The northbound lanes stayed shut for hours while crews worked the scene. Coroner Robert Byrd was called out too. It was a quiet stretch of road at that hour, but that did not matter.

Folks in Dothan wake up to news like this more often than anyone wants. Charlie will not see another morning. His name is now tied to that stretch of Ross Clark Circle forever.

Shots cracked through the 600 block of 14th Street SW in Hickory just before 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Two young men from the same town ended up with bullet wounds. One of them never came home.

Dionte Jashea Murph, 23, took a gunshot that proved fatal. Medics rushed him from the scene to a local hospital. Staff worked on him but he died from the injury later that night.

Phalen Devon Izard Jr. was the other one hit. At 19 he got himself to the hospital. Doctors checked him out and said the wound would not kill him. He remains under care but stable.

Hickory officers treated it as a homicide from the jump. They are gathering every scrap of evidence they can find. No motive has been shared and no one has been named as a suspect yet.

The call came in at 6:51 p.m. Neighbors heard the noise and dialed 911. Responders arrived to a chaotic stretch of road and two injured men.

Investigators still need help filling in the blanks. Anyone who saw or heard anything is asked to reach out to Investigator Helderman with the Hickory Police Department.

Two local kids got caught in the same burst of gunfire. One is gone for good. The other carries the scar. Police say the probe is active and they will keep pushing for answers.

Dionte Jashea Murph was just 23 when shots rang out on a Wednesday evening in Hickory. He lived right there in town. Police got the call about a shooting in the 600 block of 14th Street SW around 6:51 that night.

Officers and emergency crews rolled up fast. They found Murph hurt bad from a gunshot. They got him to a local hospital quick as they could. Doctors tried hard but he did not make it.

A second young man took a bullet too. Phalen Devon Izard Jr., only 19 and also from Hickory, made it to the hospital on his own. His wound was not life-threatening. He is expected to pull through.

Hickory police have opened a full homicide case. Detectives are piecing together what went down before the shots and right when they happened. So far they have not named any suspects or said what sparked it.

Folks who knew Dionte are left reeling. Twenty-three is no age to go. His family and friends now face empty chairs and hard questions with no easy answers.

Cops keep working the scene and talking to people who might have seen something. They want anyone with even a small piece of info to call Investigator Helderman at the Hickory Police Department.

The street where it happened sits in a regular neighborhood. Now it carries the weight of a young life cut short and another still recovering. Police say more details will come as they dig deeper.

A motorcycle carrying two people slammed into trouble on the Barrancas Avenue Bridge Wednesday night. The passenger never got up.

Angela Nieto, a Pensacola Police detective, rode on the back. Her male friend handled the controls. They traveled eastbound over Bayou Chico near Pace Boulevard. About 8 p.m. on October 14 he lost the bike in a curve. The crash killed Nieto at the scene.

The driver went to a hospital with injuries that doctors called non-life-threatening. Authorities still have not released his name.

The bridge spans Bayou Chico in Escambia County, Florida. Police shut it down while they sorted out the wreckage and gathered what they could.

Pensacola Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol share the investigation. They have not explained the exact reason the driver lost control.

Nieto worked as an off-duty detective that night. She sat behind the operator when everything went wrong in seconds.

Local roads near downtown Pensacola stayed disrupted for hours. The joint probe continues. The known facts remain the same: two people on one motorcycle, a curve on the bridge, and one detective who did not walk away.

Angela Nieto never made it home Wednesday night. The Pensacola detective sat on the back of a motorcycle when it went down hard on the Barrancas Avenue Bridge.

She was off duty. A male friend drove. They headed east over Bayou Chico around 8 p.m. on October 14. He lost control in a curve. The bike crashed. Nieto died right there on the bridge.

The driver ended up in a local hospital. His injuries were not life-threatening. Police have not named him yet.

Barrancas Bridge links the area near Pace Boulevard to the rest of Pensacola. It sits in Escambia County, right in Florida’s western Panhandle. Crews closed the span for hours while they worked the scene.

Pensacola Police and the Florida Highway Patrol are looking into every detail together. No one has said what made the driver lose control.

Nieto served as a detective with the Pensacola Police Department. Colleagues and friends now face the sudden loss of one of their own.

The crash leaves questions that investigators still need to answer. For now the facts stay simple and stark. A detective rode as a passenger. The motorcycle went down. She did not survive.

Shots cracked through the 600 block of 14th Street SW in Hickory just before 7 p.m. Wednesday. Dionte Jashea Murph, 23, went down with a gunshot wound. Medics got him to the hospital fast, but he died from his injuries.

Nineteen-year-old Phalen Devon Izard Jr. caught a bullet in the same burst of gunfire. He made it to the hospital on his own. Doctors say the injury will not kill him.

Hickory Police treated the scene like a homicide right away. Detectives are collecting evidence and talking to people who might know what started the shooting. Nothing solid on why it happened has been shared yet.

Both men called Hickory home. The sudden violence has neighbors talking and worrying about what comes next.

Anyone with even a scrap of information should reach out. Investigator Helderman is handling tips at 828-261-2621 or rhelderman@hickorync.gov. Small details matter in cases like this.

The probe keeps moving. Police say they will put out more when they can confirm it.

Right now the community waits for the next update while two families deal with the fallout from one night of gunfire.

Dionte Jashea Murph was just 23 when gunfire ended his life Wednesday evening in Hickory. Police got the call about shots in the 600 block of 14th Street SW around 6:51 p.m. Officers and medics arrived quick. Murph had been hit by a bullet. They rushed him to a hospital. He did not make it.

Another young man from Hickory took a bullet too. Phalen Devon Izard Jr., only 19, got himself to the hospital. His wound was not life-threatening. He is expected to recover.

This is now a homicide case. Hickory Police detectives are looking into every detail of what happened before the shots rang out. No motive has come out yet. No suspects have been named.

Murph lived right here in Hickory. His death hits hard for a young guy with his whole life ahead. Families in the neighborhood are left dealing with sudden loss.

Police want anyone who saw or heard anything to speak up. Even small bits of information can help piece things together. Call Investigator Helderman at 828-261-2621 or email rhelderman@hickorync.gov.

The case stays open. More facts may come as detectives dig deeper. For now, the focus stays on finding answers for Murph’s family and the community.

Folks around Hickory are watching close. A young man’s life cut short leaves questions that need answers soon.