Illinois man will plead in I-380 fatal crash from 2021

CEDAR RAPIDS — An Illinois man, who is accused of being intoxicated when he crashed his pickup truck into an SUV on Interstate 380, killing a man and injuring two other people in 2021, will plead guilty to one of his charges on Tuesday.

A lawyer for Tyler Sherman Lee, 36, of Rockton, Ill., told 6th Judicial District Judge Kevin McKeever, during a video hearing Friday, that Lee would plead guilty Tuesday to homicide by vehicle – operating while intoxicated. Lee also has requested to be immediately sentenced after the plea and forgo a presentencing report.

Lee’s trial was set to start Tuesday in Linn County District Court.

Lee faces a mandatory 25 years in prison. His other charges of homicide by vehicle — reckless driving — and two counts of causing serious injury by a vehicle may be dismissed as part of plea agreement, but the terms of the plea hadn’t been filed in public records as of Friday.

Lee is also charged with murder in Illinois for a 2017 fatal shooting of a man in Winnebago County. Illinois court records show he was out on bond at the time of the Iowa crash. That case remains pending in Illinois.

In the March 7, 2021 crash, Lee's Ford F-150 pickup was headed south on I-380's northbound lanes when it crashed into a Chevrolet Suburban near the Seventh Street exit around 2 a.m. March 7, 2021, killing David Nguyen, 23, of Cedar Rapids, and seriously injuring two other people.

Witnesses told police Lee had entered the interstate on the 29th Street NE exit nearly 2 miles north of the crash site, according to the complaint.

Police said Lee admitted he had been drinking but claimed he was not driving.

Nguyen was the front passenger in the Suburban and died at the scene.

The driver of the SUV, Rylee Brooke Wallingford, then-20, and passenger Benjamin Phillip Brecht, then-23, both of Cedar Rapids, were seriously injured. The third passenger, Skyler McDowell, 22 at the time, also of Cedar Rapids, was treated for minor injuries.

According to court records, Lee’s blood alcohol content was 0.164 after the crash — twice the legal limit, which is .08. In the subsequent testing conducted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Lee’s blood tested positive for opiates, amphetamines, cocaine and marijuana metabolites. Testing also confirmed the presence of oxycodone, cocaine and ecstasy.

Lee, during a hearing in March, attempted to get blood tests obtained through a search warrant kept out of his trial, arguing the warrant was invalid and he only consented, after arguing with police officers, because officers said he had no choice.

A judge ruled the search warrant was valid and the blood results would be allowed as evidence.

During that hearing, Iowa City Police Officer Dale Dellimore, who was a Cedar Rapids officer in 2021, testified he thought Lee was impaired and while at the hospital, Lee had slurred speech, watery and bloodshot eyes and could not complete the sobriety tests. Lee also was “fidgety and agitated,” which could be attributed to the crash and impaired driving.

Dellimore said it was difficult to determine if Lee was impaired by alcohol or drugs and further testing was needed. So he obtained a search warrant to test Lee’s blood. Lee had admitted to drinking alcohol at a bar that night.

During a body camera video played at the hearing, Lee repeatedly questioned the validity of the search warrant, and more than once, said he would consent because the police officer was telling him he did not have a choice.

He reviewed the warrant and objected again but then rolled up his sleeve for the medical technician to draw his blood.

Dellimore said Lee didn’t object to giving a blood sample. He objected to giving the sample based on the search warrant, or that was Dellimore’s understanding.

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