Bluffton man charged 6 months after woman was killed in car crash on Moss Creek Drive
After a months-long investigation into the October crash on Moss Creek Drive that left one woman dead, police have concluded that one of the drivers ran a red light and was allegedly going over 120 mph, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol.
Tyrese Nadeau, 19, of Bluffton, was charged with driving under suspension and reckless homicide on March 26 after the South Carolina Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) alleged he and another car were going at “excessive speeds” before the crash on Oct. 13.
Amy Kleckner, 51, of Bluffton, was killed in the crash, according to Beaufort County Coroner’s Office. In SCHP investigative documents obtained by the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, Nadeau told police that he was leaving work on Hilton Head Island on Oct. 13 and didn’t remember the crash.
The crash involved a Dodge Journey SUV, carrying Kleckner, an Infiniti SUV, driven by Nadeau, and a Hyundai Sedan. Both the driver of the Dodge Journey and the driver of the Hyundai Sedan were injured following the crash, according to SCHP.
The Dodge Journey had a green light and was crossing U.S. 278 towards Moss Creek Drive, according to the MAIT report. Both the Infiniti and the sedan were heading west on U.S. 278 when the front of the Infiniti hit the back of the sedan. Both cars went into the intersection, leading to the sedan crashing into the passenger side of the Dodge Journey. That car spun across a raised median and Kleckner was ejected, police said in the report.
In security footage from Moss Creek Plantation, a private residential community, the Dodge Journey can be seen getting hit while its traffic signal was yellow which, police alleged in the report, “would indicate that the traffic signal for both east and westbound traffic on South Carolina Primary 278 was red.” Both the Infiniti and the Hyundai Sedan allegedly “disregarded the traffic signal” the night of the crash, police said in the report.
A warrant for Nadeau concluded that he was allegedly going at least 106 mph at the time. Data from the SCHP report show that Nadeau had been driving at 124 mph before the crash and “it is likely this vehicle was traveling faster” than that.
Kleckner was in an Uber going from the Bluffton Room, a restaurant on Promenade Street, the report said. The driver of the Uber told investigators that they began crossing when the light turned green and noticed a white car coming toward them right before the crash. The Hyundai Sedan was going about 50 mph at the time of the crash.
‘It was horrible’
Jessika Rodriguez, who worked at Olive & Fig Mediterranean Kitchen in Moss Creek Village the night of the crash, could not sleep for days after what she saw, she said. Rodriguez told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette a few days after the crash that she was talking to a friend outside of her car leaving work when she saw the cars zooming by.
“You know when someone is really (fast) like you can feel it, and when I turned around, I saw the white SUV turning around too fast,” Rodriguez said. “It was not even five seconds we hear the accident and we start running. … it was horrible.”
Kleckner was born in Hammond, Indiana, but “these days she called both Chicago and Hilton Head home,” her obituary said. She was “deeply loyal” and “touched countless lives with her quick wit.” She had moved to the area during the pandemic to be near her father, Steven Kleckner, on Hilton Head, according to a family friend.
No other charges are pending in the crash, according to SCHP Trooper Nick Pye. Nadeau was still in custody Thursday at the Beaufort County Detention Center.
