AUSTIN, Texas — A man accused of driving away from Austin police and hitting two people is now charged with murder.
The crash happened on March 12, during South by Southwest. Tyrone Thompson, 23, faces charges related to the death of 26-year-old Cody Shelton.
Shelton was working at the Downtown Austin restaurant Arlo Grey. He was a grown adult, but his mom, LaDonna Scallion Smith, who lives in Fort Worth, viewed him differently.
"He was my baby boy," Smith said. "As a mother, I told him always go for his dreams and what he wanted to do."
Smith said Shelton dreamed of owning a food truck and hoped to serve others while also tending to the needs of his family.
"He was actually supposed to call me that Wednesday because it was my birthday. It was a big birthday – I was turning 50, so the big thing. And he had text me, 'Mom, I will call you Wednesday.' I never got that phone call," Smith said.
The day before Smith's birthday, officers saw a car in a parking lot and said the people inside were involved in drug activity and violent crime. Court documents say officers attempted a traffic stop, but the car and driver, later identified as Thompson, allegedly kept dodging officers, running red lights in the process.
One of those red lights was at East Seventh and Red River streets, where the car hit two pedestrians in the crosswalk. Shelton was one of the victims. He died at the scene.
Thompson was arrested roughly an hour later at a second crash.
"I don't sleep at night because I think all of it's just a nightmare and I'm going to wake up from the nightmare. But it's the same nightmare every time I wake up," Smith said.
Thompson was charged with murder on March 29. Criminal defense attorney Sam Bassett said Thompson's alleged conduct justified the higher charge.
"If you're committing a felony other than manslaughter and you, in the course of committing the felony or in attempting to escape from a felony, you commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes death, you can be prosecuted for first-degree murder," Bassett said.
For Smith, she looks at her son's story as a life not fully lived with dreams left unfulfilled.
"It just got taken away. I just can't comprehend it, I don't understand," Smith said.
Thompson is facing five charges in addition to the murder charge and is due in court on Wednesday, April 3.