Inset (left): James Brewington Jr. (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department). Inset (right): Dustin McLeod (Facebook). Background: News footage of the scene of the crash that killed Dustin McLeod (WTVF).
A Tennessee man has turned himself in months after police said he caused a fatal car crash.
James Brewington Jr., 61, surrendered to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department on July 23, eight months after he allegedly caused a car crash that killed 41-year-old Dustin McLeod. In a press release posted after Brewington’s arrest, police said he was behind the wheel of his Nissan Titan pickup truck while traveling southbound on a suburban road in Nashville, Tennessee, in November 2025. When Brewington tried to drive around another vehicle that was turning right, he allegedly “swerved into oncoming traffic” and crashed into the Jeep Renegade being driven by Dustin McLeod.
Dustin McLeod died after being airlifted to the hospital. His wife, Ashley McLeod, and their daughter were both seriously injured.
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After Brewington’s arrest was announced, local CBS affiliate WTVF spoke with Ashley McLeod, who continues to recover from the injuries she suffered in the crash that killed her husband. Ashley McLeod told WTVF that her family was heading back to their home in Smithville, Tennessee, so they could hang Christmas lights.
Ashley McLeod said her leg was shattered and required multiple surgeries. Her daughter spent months wearing a neck brace. Ashley McLeod told WTVF that she saw a “flash of red” at the moment Brewington’s pickup allegedly “came out in front of us.”
“I watched my daughter’s body like go around her seatbelt. I watched my husband fly forward. And I got hit with the airbag. It knocked the wind out of me for several minutes,” she told WTVF.
After the crash, Ashley McLeod said, “The car caught on fire and my husband wasn’t responding to me. My daughter was screaming in the back seat.”
Brewington was charged with vehicular homicide by reckless conduct, reckless endangerment, and aggravated assault. He is currently in custody at Nashville’s Downtown Detention Center, where he is being held on a $135,000 bond. His next court date was not immediately scheduled.
The post ‘My daughter was screaming’: Dad killed, wife and daughter injured after pickup driver with no patience swerved head-on into their Jeep, police say first appeared on Law & Crime.
