John Jefferson
Ricky Raider (Boone County Sheriff’s Office); Lauren Collins and the scene where she died last year (WXIX screenshots)
A 37-year-old man from Ohio who fled the scene of a fatal road incident after his tire fell off his truck and went through the windshield of an 18-year-old Kentucky woman’s car will spend several years behind bars for his actions.
A Kentucky judge on Thursday ordered Ricky Raider to serve a sentence of seven years in a state correctional facility for causing the death of Lauren Collins, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
Raider — who was caught on a taped jailhouse phone call confessing to watching the deadly collision — last month pleaded guilty to one count of leaving the scene of an accident with death or serious physical injury and one count of being a first-degree persistent felony offender in connection to Collins’ death in June 2023, according to Boone & Gallatin County Commonwealth’s Attorney Louis Kelly.
Following the plea hearing, Collins’ mother told Newport, Kentucky Fox affiliate WXIX that Raider’s admission of guilty gave her some relief in an otherwise tragic situation.
“To not have to sit through a heart-wrenching trial and knowing that justice will be served is a small comfort amidst this awful tragedy,” Amy Marsh told the station. “I will do everything in my power to continue to honor my daughter’s legacy through our nonprofit, Shine Like Lauren and that is where my energy will be focused.”
Shine Like Lauren is a nonprofit organization started by Marsh following her daughter’s death.
As Law&Crime previously reported, deputies with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office at about 12:15 a.m. on July 16, 2023, responded to the 176.5-mile marker in response to a single vehicle collision. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the driver of the vehicle — later identified as Collins — suffering from life-threatening injuries.
Collins was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center by the Walton Fire Department for treatment. She succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead. She had just completed her freshman year at the University of Kentucky.
Investigators determined that Collins was driving a white 2012 Buick LaCrosse southbound on Interstate 75 when “her windshield was suddenly struck by a tire.”
“Deputies believe that another vehicle, possibly a dually pickup truck, was traveling northbound on I-75 when its tire suddenly broke away causing it to roll out of control and over the concrete barrier, where it ultimately struck Collins’ vehicle,” deputies said in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
The investigation into the crash was headed up by the Accident Reconstruction Unit of the sheriff’s office.
Raider on July 22, 2023, came forward and reported himself to the Independence Police Department in Kentucky. He told authorities that he was driving northbound on Interstate 75 on the night Collins got into the accident and confirmed that he “lost a tire” but said he “didn’t believe his tire had hit anyone,” per the release.
However, several months after the fatal collision, investigators obtained a recorded phone conversation between Raider and a female inmate he was visiting at the Bullitt County Detention Center, which is about 100 miles southwest of Independence. The conversation between Raider and the inmate took place only hours after the crash, which Raider allegedly admitted to watching happen.
“During their conversation, which took place on July 16, 2023, Raider admitted that he was traveling northbound on I-75 when the tire dismounted from his 1993 Ford F-250,” deputies wrote in the release. “Raider went on to say that he witnessed the tire collide with Collins’ vehicle and knew that the collision likely resulted in someone being hurt or killed. After the collision, his tire rested near the concrete barrier that divides northbound and southbound I-75 and Raider fled the scene after mounting the tire back onto his truck.”
Major Philip Ridgell with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office told Newport, Kentucky, Fox affiliate WXIX that in order to flee the scene, Raider “stole lug nuts from other wheels to secure that tire just to get it up the road and off of the interstate.”
The case was presided over by Judge James R. Schrand.
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