A Franklin man who was convicted of leaving the scene of a wreck in 2016 was arrested again for violating his probation.
Will Everett Slinger, 33, 764 Shore View Drive, was arrested earlier this week on a probation violation charge.
Slinger was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to the three felony counts after the hit-and-run wreck that seriously injured three people in January 2016.
Witnesses said Slinger’s vehicle was headed west on King Street in Franklin and driving too fast when it hit a vehicle from behind, forcing it into oncoming traffic and into the path of another car, according to newspaper archives.
The driver of the car Slinger hit from behind had multiple injuries, including 16 fractured ribs, a broken fibula, a broken sternum and a shattered elbow. Another person was in a coma for more than a month and suffered a serious brain injury. A third person involved in the wreck had a shattered wrist and compound fracture in their ankle and had to have multiple surgeries, newspaper archives said.
Slinger drove away from the wreck, and was arrested months later after police sought the public’s help in finding the vehicle from the crash. A tip from the public after police released surveillance video led investigators to Slinger, according to newspaper archives.
He applied for early release in 2018, but a judge denied it, citing his long criminal history as the reason, newspaper archives said.
Slinger was released on a three and a half year probation on Aug. 7, 2018, according to online court records. The state filed to revoke his probation on Feb. 14, after he did not appear for a scheduled drug test in January and failed a drug screen in February, testing positive for cannabis. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Feb. 21, according to online court records.
In court Feb. 20, Slinger denied the allegations. His next court date is set for March 11, where the facts of the case to revoke his probation will be presented. He is held at the Johnson County jail without bond, court documents said.
Since 2005, Slinger has faced multiple charges in Johnson, Marion and Shelby counties relating to speeding and driving while intoxicated. He was arrested, convicted and sent to prison for another Franklin hit-and-run in 2005 that killed 29-year-old April Mulry.
