April 21, 2108
UPDATE: CHAFIN DID NOT RELEASE INMATE…MESSAGE SAYS
Right on the heels of a pedestrian, Joseph Currie, 28 of Ft. Gay, WVA being struck and killed after his release from The Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville, Ky. on January 23rd, 2018, another man has been killed in the same manner.
Jimmy Ray Craft, 53 was hit and killed by a vehicle on US 460 in Johnson County on Friday, April 20th, just a day shy of his 53rd birthday.
BSRDC administrator F.D. “Pete” Fitzpatrick reported the incident just after he received word of the accident.
He said his office had followed procedure and that the district judge John T. Chafin had ordered the release of the victim.
JUDGE CHAFIN SENT THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE TO THE LAZER THIS MORNING.
UPDATE:
“…This email is being sent to demand that you retract and correct the false information disseminated in the Lazer. Mr. Craft was arrested in Magoffin County on April 19, 2018. He could only be released by Judge Prater or by Pre-Trial officer. I Was not even on call the night he was released.
I do not know where you obtained your false information especially in light of the fact the Jail send information that he was arrested in Magoffin county. However, I do expect an immediate retraction and correction.
Thank you.
Join T. Chafin
(The Lazer accepts this letter from Judge Chafin and apologizes for any misconception of the report. It was not intentional.)
Craft, who was from Salyersville was standing in the westbound lane when the as yet unidentified vehicle struck him, the police report said. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Johnson County Coroner’s Office.
Craft had just been released from the BSRDC earlier that day five hours after his arrest on a “release on recognizance” bond.
He had been arrested for 3 Counts of Illegal Possession of a Legend Drug, Controlled Substance Prescription Not In Original Container and Public Intoxication, Excluding Alcohol.
Craft has been a regular at the BSRDC as there are 15 mugshots of him since 2015.
The accident remains under investigation and there are no charges expected for the driver of the vehicle who was not identified.
Also, the identity of the person driving the vehicle that struck and killed Currie on Rt. 23 has not been released by Post #9 of the Ky. State Police after repeated inquiries.
