A Life Cut Too Short

by Gail Myers

Tabitha Celeste Helton was a vibrant and caring 18-year-old young lady who had her whole life ahead of her. That was until the night of January 10, 2004 when her life was ended much too early. Tabitha had parked her car in an on-street parking space on Broadway in downtown Lenoir City, TN. The speed limit is 30 mph. As she was pulling out onto the street, two cars driven by two local boys raced through at speeds of approximately 94 mph. The first car swerved and missed Tabitha’s car, but the second one plowed into her car killing her instantly.

This form of street racing is called “tail-tagging” where the cars switch lanes back and forth. Obviously “tail-tagging” is done at a high rate of speed, the young man who swerved and missed has bragged to his friends about his top speed. The driver of the car that struck Tabitha maintains he was only going 45 mph!

Tabitha was killed instantly; she suffered a severe brain stem injury from the impact. She was taken to UT Medical Center in Knoxville and placed on life support. Tabitha was an organ donor!

I have spoken to Tabitha’s mother, Kimberly Stinnett, several times since I first contacted her after seeing this story on the news. Kimberly had a billboard put up in Lenoir City commemorating her daughter and urging drivers, especially teenagers, to slow down.

Almost two years has passed since the death of this beautiful young lady. I refuse to call this an accident; it should never have happened. The family has yet to find any closure. A year after her death the two boys were charged with reckless endangerment, which is a misdemeanor, that comes with the ‘punishment’ of unsupervised probation. The family has had to collect their own evidence and even hired an accident reconstructionist. It is the opinion of some law enforcement officers that Tabitha was “at fault” for the collision because they said she was in the process of making a U-turn after pulling out from the parking space. A trooper hired by the state to do a reconstruction, who was in complete agreement with the reconstructionist hired by the family, has proved this wrong. Their conclusion: there was NO WAY Tabitha was making a U-turn!

Blood samples were taken from Tabitha and the other drivers to be tested for alcohol and drugs. Tabitha’s blood was negative for drugs and alcohol, the blood from the young man who hit her tested positive for THC (marijuana).

After viewing the evidence from the accident reconstructionist, the DA took the case back to the Grand Jury on December 13, 2005. The driver of the car, which struck Tabitha’s car, was indicted on Felony Vehicular Homicide and the other driver, the one who swerved, was indicted on Reckless Endangerment with a Deadly Weapon. He supposedly wants to plea bargain or go to trial in January 2006! The other trial will be held in May or June, 2006. They are allowed one continuance of up to four months; this is all the judge would allow in this case, because it has been on the court docket for two years.

Let’s hope justice is brought soon. Tabitha’s family has waited long enough. They need to find some peace and be able to put this behind them and try to move on with their lives.