BARDSTOWN, KY (Feb. 22, 2025) – On Friday night the Kentucky State Police (KSP) responded to a hit-and-run collision in Nelson County that resulted in a fatality.
On Friday, February 21, 2025, around 11:00 P.M. EST, KSP Post 4 received a call from the Nelson County Dispatch requesting KSP investigate after a vehicle struck a pedestrian near the 13-mile marker on the Bluegrass Parkway.
The preliminary investigation revealed that Nelson Pacheco, Jr., 20, of Cicero, IL, was changing a tire on a vehicle stopped in the westbound emergency lane on the Bluegrass Parkway. Another pedestrian, Amari Mays-Clark, 20, of Frankfort, was standing near the rear driver's side bumper when a Jeep Grand Cherokee crossed the fog line and struck Mays-Clark and Pacheco and continued without stopping.
Mays-Clark was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Nelson Co. Coroner's Office. Pacheco was transported to Baptist Health Hardin for non-life-threatening injuries.
Several hours later, the driver of the Jeep, Jason T. Hamilton, 48, of Rineyville, turned himself into KSP and was charged with:
- VEHICULAR HOMICIDE WHEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL
- LEAVING SCENE OF ACCIDENT-FAILURE TO RENDER AID OR ASSISTANCE
- ASSAULT, 4TH DEGREE (MINOR INJURY)
Hamilton was later lodged in the Nelson County Detention Center.
The westbound lanes of the Bluegrass Parkway were closed for several hours to allow troopers to reconstruct the collision. KSP Post 4 was assisted at the scene by the Nelson Co. EMS and the Nelson Co. Coroner's Office. The collision remains under investigation by reconstructionist Tpr. Scott Wheatley.
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