An Iberville Parish man who ran a red light and collided with another vehicle, causing a crash that killed one person, was sent to prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide.
District Judge Louise Hines Meyers sentenced Terrell Wayne Lachney, 68, to 15 years behind bars, but suspended 10 years of his incarceration, according to 19th Judicial District Court records. She ruled that Lachney must serve at least three of the remaining five years in prison without the possibility of early release and ordered him to spend three years on probation after he gets out.
Baton Rouge traffic homicide detectives determined Lachney caused a fatal crash the evening of Nov. 14, 2020. He was speeding, driving on a suspended license and had traces of cocaine, hydrocodone and less than the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he ran a red light and slammed his Ford F-250 into the driver’s side of a Dodge Durango turning left at the intersection of South Choctaw and Oak Villa drives.
Kerrone Byron Williams Sr. was driving the Durango. The 49-year-old father of seven — including two stepchildren — died at the scene from blunt force trauma injuries he sustained in the collision, authorities said.
Williams’ 5-year-old daughter was also in the SUV at the time and suffered minor injuries, police said.
Investigators used photos from the crash scene, witness statements and surveillance footage from nearby businesses to reconstruct the T-bone collision. Police determined Lachney was driving 61 mph westbound on Choctaw Drive when he blew through a traffic signal that had been red for at least five seconds and crashed into Williams’ vehicle in the middle of the intersection. The posted speed limit along the corridor was 45 mph, court records show.
Investigators determined Lachney’s speed, impairment and his disregard for the red light caused the crash.