Bill to form street racing task force named in Clarksville man’s honor
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A street racing task force could soon be formed in Tennessee in honor of 34-year-old Jake Barnhardt, who was killed in a March 2023 crash involving a suspected street racer.
Barnhardt, a 15-year Army special forces veteran, was driving along Clarksville Pike in Nashville on his way to pick up his children when Metro police said 31-year-old Patrick Ewin lost control and hit Barnhardt at speeds above 100 mph. Ewin was reportedly charged with vehicular homicide by recklessness in connection with the crash.
MARCH 2023 | Frustrations with street racing following deadly Clarksville Pike crash
The Clarksville man’s life partner, Katie Kastle, told News 2 when Barnhardt never showed up to pick up the children, she knew something was wrong. After calling multiple hospitals and getting in touch with Vanderbilt, she learned he had died. Kastle discovered the details the next morning in a news article.
“To know that not only was he gone, but he was gone at the hands of someone’s selfish decision to street race through traffic, anger was the first response, and then just utter disbelief,” Kastle said. “I kind of knew from the beginning we had to do something with this. Jake was our protector, he always took care of everybody, and how do we save lives in Jake’s honor?”
The “Jacob (Jake) T. Barnhardt Act” was passed by Tennessee’s House and Senate, and now sits on Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. The legislation would establish a 17-member street racing task force, made up of law enforcement and people representing mayors in six different cities, that would study and determine best practices to curb illegal street racing.
“It’s going to take a comprehensive, statewide approach to deal with this issue,” state Rep. Jason Powell (R-Nashville) said. “This doesn’t just affect your community, but across the state it’s become a problem.”
Kastle said the goal of the bill is to stop illegal street racing while honoring Barnhardt’s life: “One of the hardest things when a tragedy like this happens is you see the person who did it plastered all over the news, and I didn’t want that. I wanted everybody to see Jake for who Jake was and to know what a person Jake was for our family, how important he was to us, how special he was, so this is a way to keep his name alive.”
The governor either needs to sign the bill or let it sit on his desk for 10 days in order to become law.
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