County sees first charge for violating stay-at-home directive after leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death

Driver also charged in accident that resulted in the death of the other driver

Jerry Bruce, 41, Louisville, was arrested on Monday on warrants for leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death (a Level 4 felony) and disobeying a declaration of disaster emergency (the state’s stay-at-home directive).

On March 31, Deputy Brad Naugle was dispatched to a wreck on State Road 160 near Bunker Hill around 1:30 a.m. Naugle found a blue 2000 Dodge pickup, unoccupied, pulled off to the side fo the road. The other vehicle, a 2001 Honda Cvic, was in the eastbound lane with one man, Richard Graham, unresponsive inside. Graham was later prounounced dead at the University of Louisville Hospital.

Naugle said in the probable cause affidavit that the Dodge was left-of-center at the point of impact. During an investigation, Bruce was identified as the suspected driver of the truck.

The next day, Bruce responded to the phone and text messages Naugle left for him, admitting to being the driver of the truck and said he was traveling to see his girlfriend on New Salem Road. Bruce was arrested five days later.