Charges filed against driver in fatal crash on Brick Road

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Charges have been filed against the driver and his passenger in the fatal crash that killed a bicyclist on Brick Road Wednesday morning.

Carlos Williams, 22, has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

Ashlee Nicely, 19, has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting gin death under the aiding, inducing or causing portion of the statute, and with assisting a criminal.

The victim, Ishayaa Diya was riding his bicycle westbound in the 24000 block of Brick Road just before 7 a.m. Wednesday morning when his bicycle was struck by a vehicle also traveling westbound, reports said.

The vehicle did not stop following the collision.

When St. Joseph County Police arrived, one driver reported a silver vehicle had passed her vehicle at a high rate of speed even though there was a double yellow line, just before the crash.

Not long after the car passed her, she came upon Diya lying in the road.

The driver who came upon the accident and several other drivers stopped to render aid to Diya, but he was pronounced dead at the scene after paramedics arrived.

The St. Joseph County Fatal Crash Team was activated to investigate.

FACT contacted area body shops and notified them to be on the lookout for a silver vehicle with front end damage or a broken windshield.

Later in the day, Miami Autoglass contacted FACT saying there was a silver vehicle in the shop with a broken windshield.

The woman who dropped it off told them she struck a deer and wanted the windshield repaired that day, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The vehicle was a 2016 Chrysler 200 registered to Carlos Williams and Ashlee Nicely.

Officers went to Nicely's work and learned when she arrived to work that morning she said her vehicle had been hit in a hit and run and she needed to take it to be repaired, reports said.

Video surveillance from Nicely's work showed her getting out of the driver's seat and going into the building around 7 a.m. A male got out of the passenger seat, looked at the windshield, then got back into the car, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Two calls were made from Nicely's phone to Miami Autoglass - one at 7:01 a.m. and the other at 7:29 a.m. She dropped the car off at 8:15 a.m. reports said.

Officers spoke with Nicely the next day. She said she and Williams were driving westbound on Brick Road when the crash happened. She said Williams was driving, but they changed places after the crash because he doesn't have a license, reports said.

Williams spoke with officers and initially said Nicely was driving. He also said Nicely struck a deer on Brick Road, reports said.

During his second interview, Williams eventually admitted to driving the car during the crash, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Williams was ordered held until his bail hearing and arraignment on October 15.

Nicely was ordered held until her bail hearing and arraignment on October 15.

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