Inset left: Braylen Hardy (GoFundMe) Inset right: Antonio Tremayne Weldon, Jr. (Jefferson County Sheriff”s Office) Background: An upside-down ATV can be seen next to police officers in the investigation of a hit-and-run in Birmingham, Alabama, on October 26, 2024 (WBRC/YouTube)
An Alabama man is accused of two separate fatal hit-and-run crashes a few months apart – and authorities are said to believe he was under the influence of alcohol during both crimes.
Antonio Tremayne Weldon Jr., 24, faces two counts of reckless manslaughter, according to court records. He is being held in the Jefferson County Jail.
Braylen Hardy, 13, was struck by a car on Oct. 26, 2024, as he sat on an ATV in front of his home.
Hardy loved to ride the ATV with his father, his uncle Billy Fagness, told Birmingham-based Fox affiliate WBRC. Fagness said when Hardy returned home that Saturday night, he parked on the grass and sidewalk in front of his house, then a reckless driver jumped the curb and hit him.
Birmingham police at the time said shots were fired near the area where Hardy was hit, and a vehicle speeding away from the scene is the one that crashed into the child, AL.com reported.
The driver – allegedly Weldon – ran from his car after the crash but was arrested a few blocks away. He was reportedly already facing charges from two months prior of attempting to elude, reckless endangerment and receiving stolen property.
Hardy was critically injured and put on a ventilator at a nearby hospital. Three days later, he died.
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The Birmingham Police Department told Law&Crime that Weldon was interrogated after being detained near the crash that took Hardy’s life – but he was eventually released. The department gathered evidence, and on Tuesday, July 8, after “the case was presented” to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, he was charged with the crime.
Another tragedy occurred this spring.
On March 29, 2025, on a Friday night about five months later, 34-year-old Michelle Lynn Dickerson is said to have been riding a bicycle in Birmingham when she was hit and killed by a vehicle. She died the next day.
Weldon was arrested for the March crash last month. It is unclear if the same vehicle was used in both crimes.
Authorities reportedly believe alcohol was involved in both fatal crashes. Hardy’s family found it difficult to understand how such a tragedy could occur.
“It’s rough,” Fagness told WBRC in the days after the crash. “It’s like we’re in a nightmare. It’s like we just can’t wake up from this nightmare.”
Weldon is being held in the Jefferson County Jail on a $30,000 bond.
