Suspect in fatal Columbus hit-and-run case hospitalized after arrest, police say
Editor’s note: Authorities initially reported Curtis Ledbetter’s death as a shooting. Police later clarified that he died from head trauma.
Columbus police have charged a suspect with first-degree homicide by vehicle in the death of a man found dead Feb. 25 on Third Avenue.
But the suspect officers arrested Monday has not been jailed, because he’s in the hospital.
Besides vehicular homicide, David Lee Winters Jr., 31, is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident he failed to report, striking an unattended vehicle, three counts of running stop signs and other traffic offenses, according to police reports.
Winters is accused of striking Curtis Bernard Ledbetter, 26, on Third Avenue near 29th Street, investigators said.
Ledbetter was pronounced dead at 10:21 p.m. outside 2814 Third Ave., said Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan. He was found on the ground with debris from a damaged vehicle nearby, the coroner said.
Police reports show officers initially were called at 9:42 p.m. to a shooting, and found Ledbetter dead on the sidewalk. Homicide detectives were summoned to investigate.
“During the course of the investigation, it was discovered Mr. Ledbetter was struck by a vehicle and succumbed to his injuries as a result,” officers wrote in their report.
Bryan said Ledbetter’s cause of death is listed as head trauma.
Arrested at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Winters had been set for a preliminary hearing Wednesday morning in Columbus Recorder’s Court. But he was never booked into the Muscogee County Jail, because he had a medical issue that required hospital treatment, police said.
He is under guard in the hospital, and his court hearing has not been rescheduled yet, they said.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 9:58 AM.