“To me, it’s murder.”
By Stacey Cameron
Published: Nov. 26, 2024 at 6:23 PM CST|Updated: 10 hours ago
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A 10-year-old girl, a football player at Tennessee State University, and a father out for a run were three of the 113 people killed by hit-and-run drivers in Nashville since the beginning of 2019.
Brittany Hines’ brother Dustin Brumley is one of those victims.
“It’s absolutely devastating,” said Hines. “They say things happen for a reason and all that. I don’t necessarily believe that, because you know this was tragic and unnecessary, and there needs to be justice.”
Brumley, a 30-year-old father of two young girls was killed December 3, 2023, while jogging along Nolensville Pike.
“His girls were the light of his life. He just loved being a dad.” Hines said. “And it breaks my heart because he was almost home, less than two blocks from home.”
According to witnesses, he was crossing the intersection at Thompson Lane when a white car hit Brumley and left him dying on the side of the road.
“People who saw it said that car was going approximately 80 miles per hour and that the person behind the wheel never even attempted to hit their brakes even after they hit him,” Hine said. “The only thing I can do was pray that it was instantly, and he didn’t see the car coming.”
Eyewitness accounts, video footage and debris left at the scene all helped police identify a potential suspect car and driver: A white 2011 Dodge Challenger with black racing stripes, and 19-year-old Jefry Frances Rubi Orellana. But nearly a year later, no arrests have been made, and Hines says she and her family are growing frustrated.
“I think it was actually the same month that they knew who it was,” Hines said. “But they never even questioned him. A judge wouldn’t even do a warrant to ping his cell phone to put him at the scene.”
Lieutenant James Williams oversees crash investigations for the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and he tells WSMV4 Investigates that Orellana is a person of interest who investigators want to question, but so far officers have been unable to locate him.
“There is the possibility that he has left the country,” Williams said. “And we know that vehicle went to a lot of out the state pretty quickly, and we have not been able to track it down from there.”
While Hines says she understands that MNPD is facing challenges solving this case, she is struggling to cope with the idea that her brother’s killer may escape justice.
“To me, it’s murder,” Hines said. “This was Nolensville Pike and Thompson Lane, so there is no way he didn’t know that he hit a person. And then all the news reports about it, he ran because he knew what he did.”
Hines says her heart breaks even more, because watching the news since her brother died, she’s become painfully aware of how often fatal hit-and-runs happen in Nashville.
“It’s just insane, I think when look at the numbers, it’s like someone get hit and killed every other week, or close to it,” said Hines. “And just knowing that statistically, those families are probably never going to get justice.”
WSMV4 Investigates filed a public records request with MNPD, discovering these kinds of accidents are common in Music City.
Data shows that from January 1, 2019, through August 31, 2024, police responded to 109 fatal hit-and-run accidents that took 113 lives.
According to police records, MNPD has made 54 arrests in those cases, with 23 suspects convicted to date.
But Hines wonders if there is something the department, city leaders or the state can do to help investigators catch more hit-and-run drivers.
“I don’t know if the police department needs more resources,” Hines said. “You know, just look at my brother, there were three hit-and-run accidents that weekend alone. So, I can’t imagine how many cases pile up on these investigators.”
“So, we have nine investigators that investigate these fatal crashes,” said Lieutenant Williams. “But I will always take more resources.”
Williams tells WSMV4 Investigates that fatal hit-and-run accidents are often some of the hardest cases to solve.
“Unlike a homicide, or some sort of assault, where you usually have some people that know each other giving you a suspect list, or at least a smaller number of suspects to deal with, in a hit and run, our suspect list can be almost endless,” Lieutenant Williams said.
“These are piece-by-piece investigations, and usually our process begins with trying to identify a make and a model of a vehicle involved,” said Lieutenant Williams. “But even if we have a make, model and color, there’s still probably thousands of suspect cars in a city the size of Nashville.”
Because Nashville does not have license plate reading cameras, Lieutenant Williams says investigators rarely have that key piece of evidence to work with.
“That is a big advantage because we can limit the suspect pool of cars very quickly,” said Lieutenant Williams. “And the quicker we locate that suspect and determine what state they were in at the time of the crash and what actions they were taking, the better our investigative outcomes will be for families.”
“The run part of hit and run is what makes these accidents a criminal offense,” said Riley Young, a retired accident investigator and police academy instructor, who now teaches criminal justice at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. “And these cases are extremely difficult to investigate and prosecute.”
While the arrest rate in Nashville for hit-and-run accidents may seem low to some people, Riley says it’s remarkable because it shows Nashville police are frequently overcoming the largest obstacle in these cases: positively identifying a suspect driver.
“It’s extremely difficult to put the person driving that car behind the wheel at the time of the accident,” said Young. “That’s a serious 3,000-piece puzzle that you are trying to put together in a short amount of time.”
Riley says one thing that makes it difficult is the fact that debris left behind at the scene, eyewitness testimony and video are all-circumstantial evidence that does not always single out the person driving.
“That’s a tall hill to climb,” Young said.”
In fact, Williams said the Brumley accident is a perfect example of a case where investigators have a growing body of evidence, but almost a year into the investigation, they still need one final piece to make an arrest.
“It hits you in the heart to try and explain to families that we have a really good idea who the person driving the car is, but we just can’t jump that legal threshold yet,” said Lieutenant Williams. “It’s like providing them with half answers, and not being able to give them the answers and closure they deserve, that’s hard.”
But Lieutenant Williams tells WSMV4 Investigates that in recent weeks his investigators, have been working with MNPD’s homicide unit and outside agencies to develop some new leads that once vetted may finally lead to a break in the case.
While Hines says she would like to believe that is true, she fears her brother’s killer will never be caught.
“I’m at peace with it. I have to be,” Hines said. “I cannot afford to live my life angry at the person who did it or the police department. It’ll tear me up inside.”
So, these days instead of focusing on the investigation, Hines says she’s putting her heart into remembering her brother and caring for his girls.
“My goal is just to hopefully make sure that his daughters are taken care of and they never forget him,” said Hines.
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