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Travis Parham

Age : 19

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 06/25/2021

Location : Walnut Grove Road and Timber Creek Drive

City : Memphis

County : Shelby

State : Tennessee

Agency : Memphis Police Department

Officer(s) :Antonio Marshall

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police vehicle crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 06/25/2021, 19-year-old Travis Parham Jr. was killed when off-duty Memphis Police Officer Antonio Marshall crashed his Dodge Charger into the Pontiac Bonneville carrying Parham and his uncle, 42-year-old Wallace Morris, at Walnut Grove Road and Timber Creek Drive in Memphis. Morris was also killed.
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At approximately 5:00 p.m., Parham and Morris were pulling from a private drive onto Walnut Grove Road when Marshall approached eastbound in his personal Dodge Charger at extreme speed. The posted speed limit was 45 mph. Data recovered from Marshall's Charger showed that he was traveling 114 mph five seconds before the collision and approximately 99 mph when he struck their Pontiac.
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The impact was catastrophic. Marshall struck the Pontiac with enough force to split it into two pieces. The front portion of the Pontiac was carried approximately 200 yards by Marshall's Charger, while another portion struck a Ford F-250 that had been stopped in the westbound center turn lane. Parham and Morris died at the scene. Marshall survived and was transported to Regional One Hospital with non-critical injuries.
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MPD's crash investigation documented Marshall's driving as involving racing and aggressive driving/road rage. Marshall was off duty, was driving his privately owned vehicle and was not responding to a police call or otherwise performing a law-enforcement function when he killed Parham and Morris.
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Parham was the son of Travis Parham Sr. and was his father's first-born child. He had survived a serious medical struggle at the very beginning of his life, spending his first six months in a neonatal intensive-care unit. His father later described the devastating contrast between watching his infant son fight to live and then losing him at only 19 because of Marshall's driving.
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Parham and Morris were nephew and uncle. Their extended family lost both men in the same collision and held a vigil at the location where they were killed. Relatives said the double death devastated the family and repeatedly called for Marshall to be held criminally accountable.
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Memphis police relieved Marshall of duty after the crash. Four days later, he turned himself in and was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide. At his first court appearance, Marshall was released on his own recognizance without having to post bond.
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Marshall subsequently resigned from the Memphis Police Department in July 2021 while the vehicular-homicide prosecution was pending.
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In 2023, Marshall pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. The court imposed a five-year sentence but suspended four years, leaving Marshall to serve one year in custody followed by four years of probation. Parham's family publicly objected to the sentence as inadequate for killing two people.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Antonio Marshall was a Memphis Police Department officer and was 27 when he killed Parham and Morris. He was off duty and driving his personal Dodge Charger. MPD relieved him of duty immediately after the fatal collision, and Marshall resigned from the department the following month while facing two counts of vehicular homicide.
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The documented crash investigation found that Marshall reached 114 mph on Walnut Grove Road, where the speed limit was 45 mph, and was traveling approximately 99 mph at impact. The MPD crash report described racing and aggressive driving/road rage in connection with his driving.
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DISPOSITION:
Former Memphis Police Officer Antonio Marshall pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide for killing Travis Parham Jr. and Wallace Morris. He received a five-year sentence with four years suspended, requiring him to serve one year in custody followed by four years of probation.
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SOURCE LINKS:

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/off-duty-mpd-officer-involved-in-deadly-crash-on-walnut-grove-police-say/article_ddb59984-686c-587e-8134-1d13c184b453.html
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/06/25/traffic-alert-lane-closures-walnut-grove-road-timber-creek-drive/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/06/30/family-grieves-two-deaths-crash-off-duty-memphis-officer-charged/
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/22748/mpd-officer-antonio-marshall-released-own-recognizance
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/23111/mpd-officer-antonio-marshall-fatal-crash
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/08/03/former-memphis-police-officer-charged-deadly-crash-undergoing-mental-evaluation/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/07/11/former-mpd-officer-charged-deadly-2021-crash-expected-plead-guilty/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/07/14/former-police-officer-wants-no-jail-time-crash-that-killed-2-people-families-outraged/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/08/08/ex-mpd-officer-serve-1-year-prison-over-fatal-crash/
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/37951/memphis-police-travis-parham-wallace-morris-crash-antonio-marshall-sentence