A Spanish Fort man will not face a criminal charge in connection with a fatal pedestrian crash on Perdido Beach Boulevard in Orange Beach earlier this year, after a Baldwin County grand jury declined to indict him.
The 57-year-old driver had been facing a possible criminally negligent homicide charge tied to the late-March crash that killed a 44-year-old Tennessee man who was vacationing in the area. Prosecutors presented the case to the grand jury in August, and jurors ultimately chose not to move forward with an indictment, according to court records.
A Baldwin County assistant district attorney said the panel appeared to view the crash as a tragic accident rather than a criminal act, pointing to eyewitness testimony that the driver had not been speeding or driving on the wrong side of the road. That testimony, prosecutors said, played a significant role in the grand jury’s decision.
The crash happened shortly after 10 p.m. in late March in the 28100 block of Perdido Beach Boulevard. According to police, the pedestrian had been crossing the road on foot and made it partway across before stopping in a turn lane to let a vehicle pass in the inside lane. When he stepped out of the turn lane, he was struck by a pickup truck traveling in the outside lane.
An Orange Beach police officer testified at an earlier preliminary hearing that the driver had not appeared to be driving erratically before the crash, though he did fail three field sobriety tests administered at the scene.
Prosecutors said this week that they could not comment on whether any additional charges might still be considered in connection with the case, leaving open at least the possibility of further legal action even though the original homicide charge has been dropped.
Separately, the victim’s widow and brother filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against the driver in the months following the crash. That lawsuit remains active in civil court, meaning the driver could still face financial liability even though the criminal case did not proceed to trial.
The case highlights the sometimes different standards applied in criminal versus civil proceedings arising from the same fatal incident. While a grand jury found insufficient grounds to pursue criminal charges, the civil wrongful death claim operates under a different burden of proof and remains a separate legal track entirely.
Orange Beach police have not indicated whether any further investigation is planned. For now, the case’s criminal chapter appears closed, while the civil suit continues to work its way through Baldwin County’s court system.