Fatal wreck still under investigation

Police are still investigating a fatal collision in March at the intersection of 21st and Sycamore streets in Clovis.

But while criminal charges were being pursued, they were quashed in October after the defendant entered a health care facility in Lubbock before dying there last month.

Officials said last week misdemeanor charges of negligent driving in the case had been filed against Bobby Kimbrough, 63, in connection with the March 10 crash that killed Tara Williams and Corey McKenna.

District Attorney Andrea Reeb said investigators were still waiting on toxicology results from the autopsy of the deceased couple before more serious charges of vehicular homicide could potentially have been pursued.

Toxicology results have still not been released.

According to court records, several witnesses said the green Volkswagen piloted by Williams had right of way when Kimbrough t-boned them while driving eastbound in a red Ford pickup.

Paul Clemens told investigators he was in the left-turn lane of Sycamore beside Williams in the northbound lane to his right; both lanes had green lights when he saw the red truck “not slowing down for the red light.” Clemens said he “laid on the horn to warn (Williams and McKenna)” but to no avail.

“The Ford had never slowed and he heard no sound of brakes, only the thump of the vehicles colliding,” Clemens told investigators.

Clemens said Williams had the green light when he entered the intersection, and after the crash Clemens’ wife “had exited the vehicle and saw the two victims in the Bug were already deceased.”

Kimbrough “exited the pickup and was visibly shaking with a glass look to his eyes, and no response to (Clemens’) question if he was okay,” records show. Clemens’ wife told police “she heard others talking about him (Kimbrough) being non-expressive, non-responsive.”

Kimbrough was transported to Plains Regional Medical Center, but when a police officer tried to make an introduction “he gave (him) the 1000 yard stare,” a police officer wrote.

Kay Kimbrough told police she had guardianship over her son and gave consent for his blood to be tested; results Aug. 13 showed that “Kimbrough did not have any Ethanol or drugs in his system at the time of the blood draw.” The misdemeanor charges were filed on him the following day.

District Attorney Reeb said police are empowered to file misdemeanor traffic-related charges without approval from court officers like herself or Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover, but that much would be needed for a felony such as vehicular homicide.

Kimbrough’s obituary stated he died Nov. 6 at Whisperwood Nursing & Rehabilitation in Lubbock “from a traumatic head injury caused from a motorcycle accident six years ago.”

Court records show the charges police filed on him were quashed in mid-October. In the Oct. 14 motion to quash that arrest warrant and dismiss the criminal complaint, Stover wrote “the State has been advised that the Defendant is currently in a 100% care facility in Lubbock, Texas, and is not expected to leave said facility.”

Court records do not indicate precisely when Kimbrough entered the facility, but the dismissal motion was filed two months after the complaint and arrest warrant, and Reeb said that motion was intended to spare the state Kimbrough’s medical expenses while he was in treatment.

As to whether Kimbrough, with a history of head trauma, should have been driving at all March 10 was another issue investigators were in the process of determining, Reeb said.

“That was discussed, I can’t remember if that was actually determined,” she said. “Did he have a valid license, how was he driving, that was all still not even thoroughly reviewed or determined because we were still in the initial phase of a charging decision.”