MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. — Two months after a Wilmer man was killed when his motorcycle and an SUV collided north of Semmes, the driver of the SUV has been charged with manslaughter.
Tonya Renee Wadsworth, 46, of Semmes, turned herself in to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday morning, Sept. 30, according to jail records. She is charged with manslaughter in the death of James R. Parker, 38.
Wadsworth has not been convicted of any crime. She is presumed innocent unless and until the state proves its case in court, and a charge is only an accusation.
The crash on Jack Williams Road
The crash happened on the night of Tuesday, July 28, at about 9:30 p.m., on Jack Williams Road near Buford Lane, roughly 6 miles north of Semmes in northwestern Mobile County.
Parker was riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle when it was struck by a Nissan Pathfinder SUV, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Highway Patrol Division, which investigated the wreck. Authorities allege Wadsworth was driving the SUV.
Parker was thrown from the motorcycle in the impact. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
At the time of the crash, troopers said only that the cause remained under investigation. Officials have not publicly described what investigators believe caused the collision or what evidence led to the manslaughter charge, and court records available so far do not lay out those details.
Key facts
- Date of crash: Tuesday, July 28, 2026, about 9:30 p.m.
- Location: Jack Williams Road near Buford Lane, about 6 miles north of Semmes
- Vehicles: A Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a Nissan Pathfinder SUV
- Killed: James R. Parker, 38, of Wilmer
- Charged: Tonya Renee Wadsworth, 46, of Semmes
- Charge: Manslaughter
- Investigating agency: Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Highway Patrol Division
What a manslaughter charge means in Alabama
Under Section 13A-6-3 of the Code of Alabama, a person commits manslaughter by recklessly causing the death of another person. The law also covers a killing that would otherwise be murder but is committed in a sudden heat of passion caused by legally recognized provocation, though that portion of the statute rarely applies to traffic cases.
In a vehicle crash, the question is usually whether a driver acted recklessly. Under Alabama’s criminal code, a person acts recklessly when he or she is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and that disregard amounts to a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe. That is a higher bar than ordinary carelessness. A simple mistake behind the wheel that causes a crash generally does not meet the standard on its own; prosecutors must show the driver knowingly ignored a serious risk.
Manslaughter is a Class B felony in Alabama, punishable by two to 20 years in prison. The state also has a separate, lesser offense, criminally negligent homicide, that applies when a death results from a failure to perceive a risk rather than a conscious disregard of it.
Whether the charge against Wadsworth is supported by the evidence will be decided by the courts. Authorities have not said what conduct they allege made the crash reckless.
Why charges can take weeks or months
Serious and fatal crash investigations frequently take time. State troopers typically reconstruct the collision, which can involve measuring skid marks and debris fields, examining the vehicles, downloading data from onboard event recorders, interviewing witnesses, reviewing any available video and, in some cases, awaiting toxicology results from the state’s forensic laboratory. Investigators then present their findings to prosecutors, who decide whether criminal charges are warranted.
That process explains why a charge may not come until well after a crash, as happened here, roughly nine weeks after Parker’s death.
What happens next
After an arrest on a felony charge in Mobile County, a defendant is booked at the Mobile County Metro Jail and goes before a judge, who addresses bond and the conditions of release. Jail records did not immediately indicate whether Wadsworth had been released.
The case is expected to proceed in Mobile County District Court, where a judge may hold a preliminary hearing to decide whether there is probable cause to send it to a grand jury. A Mobile County grand jury would then decide whether to return an indictment, after which the case would move to circuit court for arraignment and, if it is not otherwise resolved, trial.
It was not immediately known whether Wadsworth has an attorney who could comment on her behalf.
Motorcycle safety on rural roads
Parker’s death is a reminder of how vulnerable motorcyclists are in collisions with larger vehicles. National highway safety data consistently show that motorcyclists are far more likely than people in passenger vehicles to be killed in a crash, because riders have little protection from impact.
Safety advocates and state highway officials regularly urge drivers to:
- Look twice for motorcycles before turning, changing lanes or pulling out from a side road or driveway.
- Give motorcycles a full lane and extra following distance.
- Take special care at night, when a single headlight can make it harder to judge a motorcycle’s speed and distance.
- Avoid distractions such as phones while driving.
Riders are encouraged to wear a helmet, which Alabama law requires for all motorcycle operators and passengers, along with reflective or bright gear, and to ride defensively.
A loss in the Wilmer community
Wilmer is a small, largely rural community in western Mobile County near the Mississippi state line, and roads like Jack Williams Road connect its neighborhoods with Semmes and the rest of the county. Parker was 38 when he died.
This article will be updated as the case moves through the courts.