Driver livestreaming on TikTok is charged after fatally striking pedestrian, US police say

ZION, Illinois - An online creator in Illinois who struck and killed a pedestrian with her car during a livestream she was hosting on TikTok was charged this week with two felonies, police said.

Tynesha McCarty-Wroten, 43, was arrested on Dec 23 in connection with the Nov 3 crash that killed Mr Darren Lucas, 59, of Beach Park, Illinois, according to a news release from the Zion Police Department.

McCarty-Wroten, who is known to her online followers as Tea Tyme, was livestreaming on TikTok in her car with an 8-year-old child when she fatally struck Mr Lucas, authorities said.

She was booked on felony charges of reckless homicide and aggravated use of a communications device resulting in death. She was being held without bond.

Mr Jed Stone, McCarty-Wroten’s lawyer, said that the evidence against his client was not as “bold and clear” as the prosecution had made it out to be.

“In this case, when the evidence is presented, we will see that what happened was an accident, was a negligent act, but was not an intentional or reckless act,” Mr Stone said on Dec 26.

Authorities said Mr Lucas was walking home from his job at a nearby grocery store around 5.45pm when McCarty-Wroten struck him at an intersection in Zion, Illinois, about 72.4km north of Chicago.

He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

McCarty-Wroten remained at the scene of the crash and agreed to provide a statement to officers at the Zion Police Department.

She told police that she thought she had a green light when she entered the intersection and did not see Mr Lucas until it was too late.

In the days after the crash, the Zion Police Department said that numerous people contacted investigators to tell them about a TikTok video that showed McCarty-Wroten livestreaming herself at the time of the crash.

Police preserved the video and verified it by using multiple search warrants and analysis of electronic data. NYTIMES