Stolen vehicle used in Hermitage hit-and-run, victim searches for answers

HERMITAGE, Tenn. (WKRN) — One Nashville resident has taken it upon herself to investigate what happened after a hit-and-run incident left her car damaged.

She told News 2 that she did not think that police were doing enough, and her search found that she wasn't the only victim.

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It was a typical Wednesday for Stefanie Taylor. She was driving along Lebanon Pike in Hermitage. However, things quickly took a turn for the worst when a driver in a truck started exhibiting signs of road rage.

"I turned left onto Central Pike and there's a portion of the road that goes from two lanes into one," Taylor told News 2. "There was a truck behind me that laid on his horn and scared the life out of me. From then on, he came from behind me, tried to run me off the road."

At that point, Taylor said that the driver of the truck sped off. Stunned, she traveled behind the truck and tried to take a picture of the license plate so that she could report the incident. But the ordeal wasn't over — that's when the driver of the truck came to a complete stop.

"I could not go around on either side, and then all of a sudden, the driver puts the truck in reverse and just pedal to the floor and guns it and pushes my car backwards maybe 50 to 100 feet," Taylor said. "When they were reversing, I was so terrified I just kind of held the brake and the wheel straight and screamed the entire time."

By that point, both cars were near James Kay Lane, near a police precinct. Taylor told News 2 that she went in to report what happened and was told there were no officers available and to call the non-emergency line. It was just after 5:00 p.m. when she called the line. After two hours of waiting in the police parking lot, Taylor went home.

It wasn't until after 10:00 p.m. that an officer arrives to take her statement.

"By the end of the conversation the officer's response was, 'The person could have been having a bad day, you pulled out your phones sometimes that can provoke people,'" Taylor said.

Taylor started her own investigation by visiting area businesses to ask for camera footage and posting to Facebook. That's where she came across the owner of the truck. As it turns out, the truck was reported stolen out of Nashville on the morning of September 13.

She not only spoke with the owner of the truck, but also a witness to her hit-and-run incident that left her car damaged. Taylor told News 2 that she's frustrated by the whole ordeal.

"I feared for my life in that moment," said Taylor. "We're taught that you reach out to the police when you have an issue when you feel like you're in danger and I feel like it kind of just fell on deaf ears."

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News 2 reached out to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) for comment on the incident as well as response times.

A spokesperson with the department confirmed they did send an officer to respond to Taylor's call and said that the department is investigating. That spokesperson also told News 2 they are working to locate Taylor's report.