Man Charged in Wife’s Hit-and-Run Death After Stopping Her From Drunk Driving Sues Police

An Alabama man who was charged with manslaughter over his wife’s hit-and-run death is suing a local police officer for defamation. 

Al.com reports Jason Todd, 42, has filed a lawsuit against Clanton Police Department officer David Hicks, over the handling of the death of his wife, Tonya Anderson, who was fatally struck by a vehicle in August 2018 after her husband stopped her from driving home drunk from a local bar. 

Shortly after Anderson’s death, police arrested Todd and charged him with manslaughter, accusing him of throwing his wife’s keys across the road, which cops allege she was attempting to retrieve before she was fatally hit while walking home along Highway 31.

However, per Al.com, Todd claims her keys were later found a distance away from the local bar he last saw his wife alive at. Surveillance footage shows the couple having an argument in front of Friends Steakhouse on the night of her death.

Todd’s lawsuit alleges the CPD “interrogated him and continuously berated and screamed” at him, “trying to guilt him into confessing to something he didn’t do.” In addition to suing Hicks, whose investigation led to the manslaughter charge, Todd has filed another lawsuit in state court against Friends Steakhouse and the driver for his wife’s death.

“I loved my wife. Still do, and always will,” Todd told investigators when they accused him of causing Anderson’s death. A jury selection for the trial against Mr. Hicks is reportedly scheduled for Feb. 27, 2023.