Jail call leads to charges in fatal crash where stray tire hit woman's windshield

Almost a year after 18-year-old Lauren Collins was killed when a stray tire struck her windshield while she was driving on Interstate 75 in Northern Kentucky, a man is facing charges in connection with the crash.

Earlier this month, a grand jury indicted 37-year-old Ricky Raider on leaving the scene of an accident and a persistent felony charge, the Boone County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Friday.

Deputies responded early on July 16, 2023, to the crash on southbound I-75. Collins suffered serious injuries and was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where she later died.

A few days after the crash, Raider reported to the Independence Police Department, saying that “he lost a tire on the interstate over the past weekend but didn’t believe his tire had hit anyone," the sheriff's office said.

Investigators obtained a recorded jail call months later between Raider and an inmate at the Bullitt County Detention Center in which Raider admitted being northbound on I-75 when a tire dismounted from his Ford pickup truck, officials said.

Raider added that he saw the tired hit Collins' vehicle and knew someone was likely hurt or killed because of the collision, the sheriff's office said. The tire came to a rest near the concrete barrier dividing the northbound and southbound lanes, and Raider fled the scene after remounting the tire onto his truck.

Records show Raider is currently being held at the Boone County Jail on a $40,000 bond. He's expected to appear in court for an arraignment on June 26.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Jail call leads to charges year after woman's death in NKY crash