Tow truck driver found his girlfriend dead in crash: 'Nightmarish'

A tow truck driver dispatched to the scene of a fatal car crash says he was in disbelief when he realized that his girlfriend was killed in the crash. 

Jerome Tarver, 37, recognized his girlfriend's 2001 burgundy Dodge Neon from behind the crime scene tape. When police realized he knew the victim, they wouldn't let him through and called a different tow company to haul away the wreckage.

“I really didn’t believe it,” Tarver said. “It was like a dream. Nightmarish.”

Jerrica Hicks, 26, was killed after a pickup truck with an intoxicated driver crashed into her sedan at more than 100 miles an hour, according to the Detroit Police.

Johnathon Horton, 31, was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of manslaughter using a motor vehicle and operating while under the influence, causing death, said Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

Horton was driving on Detroit’s east side at around 2:30 a.m. Monday when he crashed into Hicks, who was heading home after a birthday party.

The tow truck driver dispatched to the scene was Hicks’ boyfriend of three years, according to Hicks’ aunt, Tanesha White.

“It’s overwhelming,” White said Monday. “I’m in disbelief still.”

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Hicks was from Detroit but had moved to Nashville, Tenn., with her parents when she was a child. She had been working in day care, but returned to Detroit six months ago to be closer to the rest of her family. Her 9-year-old son, Bryan, was supposed to join her in the next few weeks.

The day of the crash, Hicks' boyfriend,Tarver, 37, said he took her car to be repaired because it had been overheating. He still wonders if she would have been driving on Monday morning if he hadn't gotten the car fixed.

Hicks was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. A male passenger in Horton's car was also taken to the hospital,  and Horton was arrested soon after the crash, according to prosecutors.

Horton’s next court appearance is a probable-cause conference at 8:30 a.m. June 3. His preliminary examination is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. June 9. Both are before 36th District Judge Deborah Langston.

In addition to her aunt and young son, Hicks is survived by her parents, three brothers, two sisters and cousins. A GoFundMe account is raising money to support her family in the aftermath of her death.