Only three years after she entered a guilty plea for striking and killing a Boy Scout on the side of the road, Tina Wilson has the possibility for parole.
According to a Change.org petition, Wilson is scheduled for a parole hearing Nov. 16 for an early release in January 2019.
Wilson entered a guilty plea to vehicular homicide by intoxication, reckless aggravated assault and leaving the scene of a fatal accident on Oct. 30, 2015, for the 2014 death of Siegel Middle student Clifton Braunwalder.
Wilson was sentenced to 18 years for vehicular homicide, eight years for reckless aggravated assault and four years for leaving the scene to be served concurrently. She had spent one and a half years in jail awaiting trial.
That means she has spent four and a half years in jail and is eligible for parole after serving only about 25 percent of her sentence.
The petition started by "Concerned Citizens" asks the parole board to deny Wilson's parole. As of Wednesday morning, it had gained nearly 3,000 signatures.
What happened?
On April 10, 2014, Wilson was high on a cocktail of prescription painkillers when she struck13-year-old Clifton Braunwalder on April 10, 2014, on the shoulder of Interstate 24 as he was changing a flat tire for his mother.
According to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report, Wilson had three different drugs in her system when she veered across two lanes of traffic on Interstate 24 westbound in Smyrna and striking Braunwalder. He died a short time later at StoneCrest Medical Center.
A witness to the crash under the Sam Ridley Parkway overpass called the police and followed Wilson to a pain clinic in Nashville where she was apprehended.
Wilson appeared intoxicated, had slow, slurred speech and failed three field sobriety tests, which led her to get a warrant for a blood sample, Trooper Dana Calderaro Vann said at a preliminary hearing in 2014.
The sample showed Wilson had amphetamines, alprazolam (Xanax) and marijuana metabolites in her bloodstream. She also admitted to taking opioid Suboxone and Vyvance, an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder medication.
Wilson told investigators she was trying to avoid being struck by a vehicle and swerved. She thought she hit a ditch, not a child on the side of the road. Witnesses could not corroborate her account.
Wilson was also accused of almost striking her own daughter, who was 6 years old at the time, with a car in 2013, according to WGNS.
Michelle Willard is a freelance journalist who fills her days with social media marketing, politics, true crime, and taking complaints. You can complain to her on Twitter @MichWillard or by email michelle(at)murfreesborovoice.com.