Search fatalities

Reggie Pederson

Age : 66

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/02/2026

Location : Airways Boulevard and Park Avenue

City : Memphis

County : Shelby

State : Tennessee

Agency : Tennessee Highway Patrol

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/02/2026, Reggie Pederson, 66, was killed in Memphis when a driver being pursued by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper crashed into Pederson’s vehicle at the intersection of Airways Boulevard and Park Avenue. Pederson had no involvement in the police pursuit and was traveling independently when the pursuit entered the intersection.

 

The pursuit began after a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper conducting traffic enforcement on Airways Boulevard clocked a vehicle traveling nearly 90 mph in a posted 40 mph zone. This excessive speed was the documented initiating reason for the attempted stop and subsequent pursuit. The trooper caught up with the vehicle near Airways Boulevard and Ketchum Road.

 

According to court records and the trooper’s account, the driver continued driving away while the trooper pursued. Police alleged that the driver traveled at speeds too fast for road conditions, crossed into lanes of oncoming traffic and drove through multiple red lights as the pursuit continued along Airways Boulevard.

 

The pursuit proceeded north along Airways toward Park Avenue, a major urban intersection surrounded by businesses, residential neighborhoods and regular cross traffic. According to court records, the pursued vehicle entered the intersection of Airways Boulevard and Park Avenue against a red traffic signal and crashed into Pederson’s vehicle. The collision killed Pederson.

.

A 6-year-old child was inside the pursued vehicle during the chase and crash. The child suffered a traumatic head injury and a severe tongue injury and was transported to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

 

The driver survived the crash and was hospitalized. Court records subsequently showed that he had been released on bond only weeks earlier following a separate July 2026 encounter involving Memphis police and Tennessee state troopers. On July 4, Memphis Police Department officers attempted a traffic stop and the driver allegedly drove away. Approximately 30 minutes later, Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers located him, pursued him and arrested him on an allegation of vehicle theft. He posted bond six days later.

 

The earlier pursuit is relevant to the circumstances surrounding Pederson’s death because the August 2 pursuit occurred while the driver remained on bond from that July case. Following the fatal August crash, he was held in the hospital's prison ward and a $250,000 bail was set.

 

Pederson was a Memphis photographer whose work documented musicians, artists, live performances and people throughout the city. He also worked professionally in facilities/project management. His photography had become familiar within Memphis' arts and music communities. Friends and fellow photographers remembered him as supportive of other photographers and particularly skilled at photographing people. Photographer Joel Rose said Pederson had a genuine love of people that was visible in his photographs, while photographer David Johnson described him as an encouraging presence in the local photography community.

 

Pederson's death occurred amid substantial scrutiny of Tennessee Highway Patrol's pursuit practices in Memphis. Investigative reporting earlier in 2026 examined 75 vehicle pursuits associated with the Memphis Safe Task Force during its first five weeks of operation. Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers conducted 66 of those pursuits, or 88 percent. Forty-three percent of the task force pursuits examined by reporters resulted in crashes.

 

The Tennessee Highway Patrol's written vehicle-pursuit policy has also become a significant transparency issue. The Institute for Public Service Reporting sought the policy under the Tennessee Public Records Act, but state officials declined to release it, asserting that the policy was exempt from public disclosure. This prevents the public from directly comparing a particular trooper's decision to initiate, continue or terminate a pursuit with THP's own written pursuit standards.

 

The records most important to determining the complete circumstances of Pederson's death include the identity of the initiating and pursuing trooper; THP dash-camera and body-camera recordings; the complete pursuit radio traffic; dispatch/CAD records; GPS and vehicle-speed data from the THP cruiser; the trooper's pursuit and incident reports; any supervisory pursuit authorization or monitoring records; any orders to continue or terminate the pursuit; crash reconstruction records; Tennessee Highway Patrol fatal-crash reports; intersection or traffic-camera video from Airways Boulevard and Park Avenue; nearby business surveillance video; 911 calls; and any post-pursuit administrative or internal review.

 

Those records are particularly important for establishing the exact pursuit duration and distance, the trooper's speed, the distance between the patrol vehicle and pursued vehicle at the time of the collision, whether additional THP units joined the pursuit, whether supervisors were monitoring it, whether the pursuit was ever ordered terminated or modified, whether emergency lights and siren were continuously activated, and what information concerning the presence of other motorists and the driver's increasingly dangerous conduct was communicated before the fatal collision.

 

The pursuing trooper's identity has not been publicly disclosed in the reporting located to date.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/08/10/photographer-killed-deadly-thp-chase-suspect-was-out-bond-prior-chase-records-show/
https://www.psrmemphis.org/state-officials-decline-to-release-thps-vehicle-pursuit-policy/
https://www.psrmemphis.org/thp-chief-says-he-will-review-vehicle-pursuit-practices/
https://mlk50.com/2026/02/20/risky-high-speed-chases-explode-under-memphis-safe-task-force/
https://www.tn.gov/safety/publicsafety/openrecords.html