The five people killed and one person injured in a car crash with a Memphis Police Department car have been identified by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
THP is investigating the crash, which took place in the early morning hours of Oct. 11. The preliminary report released by THP also showed the MPD officers hit the other vehicle's driver's-side door, but did not assign fault to the officers driving the car.
According to THP, the crash killed five people. Those people were:
- 20-year-old Rodney McNeal Jr.,
- 19-year-old Carlesha Fifer,
- 21-year-old Syria Fifer,
- 20-year-old Messiah Lee, and
- An unidentified 17-year-old.
The preliminary information also identified Laterrius Mathis Jr., a 19-year-old, as the other person in the vehicle. Mathis was critically injured. His current condition was unknown as of Oct. 15.
According to that same preliminary report, two Memphis police officers — identified
as Kendric Foster II, the driver, and Nikkia Booth, the passenger — were driving a 2025 Ford Explorer westbound along E. Raines Road. The other car, a 2026 Toyota Corolla, was driving southbound along Hickory Hill Road.
It was not clear from the THP report who was driving the Corolla.
"As Vehicle 1 (the MPD car) traveled through the intersection at Hickory Hill Rd, Vehicle 1 struck the driver-side of Vehicle 2 (the Toyota Corolla)," the narrative at the bottom of the report read, indicating the police car crashed into the other car.
MPD's latest vehicle addition was a fleet of 2025 Ford Explorers.
It was "unknown" whether the people in the Corolla who died were wearing seat belts, according to the report. Both MPD officers, the report said, had their seat belts on. In a section where charges could be listed, which had the options to list the charges or write "pending outcome of investigation or none," THP wrote "none" for both officers.
THP said the investigation into the crash is ongoing in an email to The Commercial Appeal.
Read the full THP preliminary report
Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, and followed on X @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TN Highway Patrol identifies 5 killed in crash with Memphis police car
