THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS
By KACIE DINGUS BREEDING
timesnews.net
KINGSPORT — Investigators have determined that the death of 4-year-old Jamarion H. Carpenter was an accident, according to a Kingsport Police Department press release issued Friday afternoon.
Jamarion died Tuesday afternoon as a result of being struck by a Ford F350 pickup truck driven by Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority employee John H. Marshall, 48, while he was riding his bicycle in the grassy courtyard of Lee Apartments on Dale Street.
KPD Lt. Jerry Robinson said Friday that footage acquired from four nearby surveillance cameras showed the cameras were turned in other directions at the time of Tuesday’s incident. Without video to show them how the tragedy unfolded, the investigation relied on witness statements and physical evidence taken from the scene, Robinson said.
The investigative file will be forwarded to the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office for a final review, Robinson said.
KHRA Director Terry Cunningham said Friday that Marshall will remain on administrative leave at least until District Attorney Greeley Wells makes a decision regarding whether any charges will be filed in the case.
Frontier Health had counselors at the scene Wednesday working with Jamarion’s family and friends and Jamarion’s playmates — some of whom actually witnessed the accident.
“(Jamarion) was just being a kid out here riding his bike and a truck came through here. It had no business coming through here at that size. He wasn’t looking and he ran my baby over,” Jamarion’s mother, Chardonnay Carpenter, said Wednesday of her son’s death.
