August 10, 2011 – Shively, Ky. – Charges against a man accused of DUI, manslaughter, and fetal homicide were dropped Monday, August 8.
WAVE3 reports that Bernard Kalep King was cleared of all charges relating to the 2007 accident that killed his former girlfriend, Brandie Chadwell, who was pregnant at the time. Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Brian Edwards said that dismissing the charges was the “right thing to do under the law.”
The accident happened in 2007 in Shively. King was the driver of a vehicle that was involved in a fatal single-vehicle wreck. It was suspected that King was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the accident.
King admitted to using cocaine hours prior to the accident and urine tests came back positive for the drug; however, Edwards was forced to throw out that evidence based on the Kentucky Supreme Court’s ruling that urine tests are not reliable enough to create substantial evidence.
Maggie Briley, Chadwell’s mother, plans to file civil suits in order to seek justice for her daughter. Briley is now caring for Chadwell and King’s surviving 6-year-old son.
Edwards has left the case open to be refilled if more evidence surfaces against King. King remains in prison doing time for an unrelated charge of cocaine possession.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2009 Kentucky Crash Statistics, there were 791 fatalities as a result of traffic accidents in Kentucky.
As a service to our readers, we will occasionally publish blogs about serious or fatal traffic accidents in our region. We do this to raise awareness of the types of conditions and factors that commonly lead to severe injuries or death as a result of Kentucky vehicle accidents.
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