Retired lieutenant reacts to deadly Hickory Hill crash; Officers ‘supposed to maintain a safe speed’

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Family members have identified four of the five people killed in a crash involving a Memphis Police Department vehicle at the intersection of Hickory Hill and Raines early Sunday morning.

The victims are 20-year-old Rodney McNeal, 19-year-old Syria Fifer, 20-year-old Messiah Lee and 19-year-old Carlesha Fifer. The identity of the fifth victim has not been released. A sixth person who was in the car remains in critical condition.

Video shows a Memphis police vehicle driving down Raines Road. The other car, carrying six people, was traveling down Hickory Hill, where the light was red according to surveillance video. The two vehicles met at the intersection and crashed.

According to police, two officers were headed to a call about three minutes from the intersection.

Both MPD officers were later released from the hospital.

“This is a tough situation, but they were supposed to maintain a safe speed,” Collins said.

Michael Collins, a retired lieutenant with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, watched the video for the first time with Action News 5.

“I understood why they [MPD] were doing it and their intent was to get to that scene as quickly as they possibly can. However, you still have to take into consideration the public as well when you are operating that motor vehicle,” Collins said.

Collins said it is usually protocol for law enforcement to be cautious when driving emergency vehicles, especially when entering an intersection.

“You should still be taking into consideration that this is an intersection and there is possibly that someone may run the light like in this particular situation,” Collins said.

Action News 5 requested MPD’s vehicle operations policy and is waiting on a response to the FOIA request.