Elderly driver accused in 2011 death of Richland child dies
Raymond Watts, the man accused in 2011 in the death of Allen Lutrick, a 10-year-old Richland boy boarding a school bus, has died.
Leake County coroner Earl Adams said Watts, 85, died in the hospital at 2 a.m. last Tuesday morning. He had been under hospice care for end-stage heart disease and bladder cancer.
Watts was driving his wife Audrey to chemotherapy treatments in Jackson on Nov. 1, 2011, the day of the accident that claimed Allen's life as he boarded a school bus on Cleary Road. Watts was charged with manslaughter and felonious fleeing the scene of an accident.
Allen died the following day, hours after authorities Watts turned himself in and told police he was driving the vehicle that struck the child.
District Attorney Michael Guest said Watts turned himself in voluntarily when he realized what had happened.
"He saw on the news that the boy had been hit, and saw the pleas from the child's parents for the person involved to come forward," Guest said. "He made arrangements for someone to stay with his wife, and turned himself in before he was even a suspect."
He initially was held on a $1.5 million bond that was subsequently lowered to $100,000 by Judge Kent McDaniel.
The case was an emotional one for law enforcement as well as the community, as nobody expected the driver of the vehicle to be someone like Watts, a WWII veteran in failing health.
Adams said when Watts died, he was about to be transferred to the VA, and he went into cardiac arrest as the ambulance left town, so they turned around and brought him back.
Watts had a history of health issues, which caused his trial to be pushed back several times, and Audrey Watts died in January 2013.
Watts' obituary says he owned and operated a barber shop in Jackson for over 50 years. He enjoyed fishing, motorcycles and piloting. A glider pilot in the second World War, he served in the Army, the Merchant Marines, and the Air Force.
Adams said Watts' sister said he was not only her brother, but her hero.