Alexandria woman pleads guilty to lesser charge in drag racing death

Melissa Gregory, Alexandria Town Talk
Updated ·2 min read
An Alexandria woman accused in the death of man during a drag race pleaded guilty on Thursday to a lesser charge and received a reduced prison sentence and probation.
An Alexandria woman accused in the death of man during a drag race pleaded guilty on Thursday to a lesser charge and received a reduced prison sentence and probation.

An Alexandria woman accused in the death of man during a drag race pleaded guilty on Thursday to a lesser charge and received a reduced prison sentence and probation.

Nena Campbell, 41, had been arrested by the Alexandria Police Department on Feb. 15, booking her into the Rapides Parish Detention Center #1 on charges of vehicular homicide, first-degree vehicular negligent injuring, first-offense DWI and drag racing.

The charges stem from an Oct. 7 wreck in the 300 block of Browns Bend Road that killed 42-year-old Bret Tibbetts of Alexandria.

According to a news release from the department and court records, Campbell was racing with another driver in a Chevrolet Camaro in the early morning hours.

The drivers — the other driver was in a Dodge Challenger — were racing southbound on the street when the Challenger driver tried to pass Campbell, and the two crashed into each other. The Challenger ran off the road and hit a tree.

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Tibbetts, a passenger in the Challenger, was ejected. The unidentified driver was seriously injured.

Campbell was not injured. A civil lawsuit later was filed against her, along with the Challenger driver and others, on behalf of Tibbett's two minor children.

She was formally charged with vehicular homicide and first-degree vehicular negligent injuring on April 3. Her bail was set at $401,100, and she filed a motion to reduce that.

An April 8 hearing on that motion was continued until Thursday, when she agreed to plead guilty to a lesser felony charge of attempted vehicular homicide and the felony first-degree negligent injury charge.

Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Greg Beard sentenced Campbell to 15 years at hard labor on the attempted vehicular homicide charge, suspending 10 years of that and ordering that 18 months be served without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

The sentence also includes three years of supervised probation with conditions, including undergoing a driver improvement program and substance abuse treatment.

Campbell was sentenced to five years in prison at hard labor on the negligent injury charge.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Woman charged in Bret Tibbetts' death in drag race crash pleads guilty