Teen driver charged in fatal crash

Sheriff’s Office ties death to drug deal

A drug deal gone bad led to a fatal crash on Monday that killed a 19-year- old man in northeast Shelby County, according to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

A driver accused of ramming the car that crashed faces a charge of reckless homicide.

James Brandon Pearrow, of Arlington, died when the silver Pontiac Grand Am in which he was a passenger struck a utility pole at Brunswick and Memphis-Arlington roads about 9:30 p.m., according to Chip Washington, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department.

The Grand Am, driven by John Stacy, 19, of Bartlett, had been rammed several times by a white Ford Taurus as the cars headed north on Brunswick. Stacy was listed in stable condition today at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

Sheriff’s Office detectives tracked down the Taurus to a McDonald’s in Arlington where they found the driver in the damaged car, according to a court affidavit. They charged Benjamin Edwards, 19, of Arlington, with reckless homicide and aggravat- ed assault. Edwards was held in Shelby County Jail with no bond amount immediately set .

Edwards told detectives that he was attempting to purchase an ounce of highgrade marijuana for $300 from Pearrow, whom he knew from high school, the affidavit said.

They had met on a deadend street near Brunswick where the driver of the Grand Am took his money but failed to deliver the marijuana, Edwards told investigators.

The Pontiac sped away and he followed in his Taurus, eventually ramming the other car until it veered off the road, Edwards reportedly said.

He told detectives that he turned around and could see people gathering around the crashed car, yelling and pointing toward him, so he went straight to work at the McDonald’s, according to the court document.

The crash that killed Pearrow is the first homicide recorded this year by the Sheriff’s Office, Washington said. — Kevin McKenzie:

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