Man accused of causing deadly Forest Drive crash charged with reckless homicide

Standing behind her older sister’s wheelchair, Anne Carroll Reamer put a hand on Kim Hoffman’s shoulder as bond was set for the man accused of causing a crash that left Hoffman’s foot shattered and the sisters’ father dead.

Joe Lewis Busby, 40, was arrested Friday and charged with reckless homicide with death caused by injury from a vehicle in connection with a crash on Forest Drive on Jan. 24. His bond was set at $20,000 in a hearing at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on Saturday afternoon.

William Carroll, 81, died Feb. 24 from injuries sustained in the crash after being treated in the hospital for a month.

Carroll and his oldest daughter, Hoffman, were traveling west on Forest Drive in front of Trader Joe’s grocery store when Hoffman’s Chevy Tahoe was struck by Busby’s pickup.

The S.C. Highway Patrol investigated. Carroll’s family said they were told by police that a post-crash analysis determined the truck was traveling 77 mph at the time of the crash. The speed limit on that car-clogged, shop-lined stretch of Forest Drive between Beltline Boulevard and Trenholm Road is 35 mph.

Forest Acres city leaders have been considering making safety and aesthetic improvements to the corridor, where unsafe traffic conditions, from speeders to badly timed traffic lights to risky left turns, are well-known to drivers.

The crash left both Hoffman and Carroll with severe injuries. Carroll’s included a crushed right shoulder, broken hips, a broken back and traumatic brain injury, from which he later died.

Hoffman’s left foot was badly injured. Three months after the crash, she still wears a boot and rides in a wheelchair.

Friday night, after learning of Busby’s arrest exactly two months after their father’s death, neither Hoffman nor Reamer could get a night’s sleep.

The sisters, their husbands and a pair of childhood friends Saturday afternoon crowded into the Richland County bond courtroom, where the attorney representing Carroll’s estate, Chad Poteat, told Judge D.L. Simmons that the family has been “irrevocably and permanently affected” by the crash and the loss of Carroll.

“This is not your standard automobile accident,” Poteat said. “This type of behavior should not be tolerated at all.”

Simmons set Busby’s bond at $20,000 and told him he qualified to receive the services of a public defender if he wished.

Reamer furrowed her brow and muttered, “Are you kidding me?” when the bond amount was set. For her, it was a price too low in comparison to the price her family has paid.

Busby faces up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine between $1,000 and $5,000 if found guilty of the charge.

Carroll’s family was told by a victim’s advocate that Busby’s trial process would likely begin sometime this summer.

“I feel so sick,” Reamer said, as she left the jail.

This story was originally published April 25, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Man accused of causing deadly Forest Drive crash charged with reckless homicide."