CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A Clarksville man is on trial this week for causing a three-car collision on Fort Campbell Boulevard in 2021 that resulted in a woman’s death.
On April 8, 2021, at about 5:10 p.m., Palikna Tosie, 50, was driving over 80 mph down Fort Campbell Boulevard (a 45 mph zone) when he crashed with two other cars. One of vehicles flipped, and the driver, 61-year-old Kimberly Randolph, died at the scene.
In March 2022, a Montgomery County grand jury indicted Tosie on charges of vehicular homicide, reckless driving, lack of due care and speeding. Tosie pleaded guilty to speeding but maintained innocence on the other three counts.
Prosecution: ‘He chose speed as his weapon’
April 8, 2021, was a clear and warm day, Assistant District Attorney Crystal Morgan told the jury. “That was the day the defendant chose to be reckless behind the wheel. He chose speed as his weapon that day.”
Randolph had been out with her daughter, and after picking up dinner at the Jumbo Crab on Fort Campbell Boulevard, she exited the parking lot of the shopping center where the AT&T and T-Mobile are located, Morgan said.
He said Randolph would have seen a large white pickup truck turning into the parking lot that she was trying to exit before she began her left turn to cross three lanes and merge into southbound traffic. “What she didn’t foresee was that black Chevy Camaro driven by the defendant doing well in excess of the speed limit that day,” Morgan told the jury.
The state described the resulting collision as a “nasty crash,” detailing how the force of impact from the Camaro spun Randolph’s white Chevy Sonic and flipped it onto its passenger side. Morgan told the jury they would hear from first responders and witnesses that people were there to help within seconds and that a LifeFlight helicopter was called for, only to be canceled shortly after.
“Mrs. Randolph died that day because the defendant chose to speed.”
| DOWNLOAD THE APP: Sign up for our free Clarksville Now app
Defense: ‘He never saw her until it was too late’
Tosie’s attorney, Travis Meeks, told the jury that while it was unfortunate that someone died as a result of this terrible accident, his client does not bear all of the responsibility for the crash.
Meeks said Tosie had the right of way and passed through the traffic light at Quinn Lane travelling northbound just as Randolph was leaving the Jumbo Crab. Meeks pointed out that the traffic light at Quinn Lane was accessible from the Jumbo Crab parking lot, but that Randolph chose to exit on the boulevard side instead. Meeks noted there was heavy rush hour traffic.
“The first person you’re going to hear from is Tamra Gall, and she drives a 2006 Chevy Silverado. It’s white and it’s lifted,” Meeks said. “Mrs. Randolph drove a much smaller white vehicle. When (Gall) pulls into the parking lot, she cuts across all three lanes of northbound travel that (Tosie) was travelling in. And she takes her time crossing.”
Meeks argued that when the white pickup truck pulled into the parking lot beside Randolph, there would have been a few seconds when Randolph couldn’t see anything besides the truck, and likewise, his client wouldn’t have seen Randolph’s car behind the turning truck.
“Mr. Tosie never saw her (Randolph) until it was too late,” Meeks told the jury. “And by that, I mean a half second before the accident. He saw his green light, he saw the truck pulling in front of him, he saw the truck had cleared the roadway, and he made a transition from the center lane to the left lane to get around the truck, and by the time he did that, Mrs. Randolph pulled out in front of him.
“The question is whether or not her (Randolph’s) pulling out in front of him (Tosie) was the cause of her own death.”
Trouble behind the wheel
According to previous reports, Tosie has had trouble behind the wheel before. In 2018, police said, he was charged with crashing into his wife’s car, assaulting her and then barricading himself in his home.
He was charged with first-degree attempted murder, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault, according to online court records. Tosie pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and aggravated assault, while the attempted murder charge was dismissed. However, on June 13, 2022, that case was officially reopened.
The trial continues Wednesday morning.
| DON’T MISS A COURTS STORY: Sign up for the free daily Clarksville Now email newsletter