Gulch Driver Ran Down Scooter Rider Twice, Then Fled, Nashville Police Say

A 42-year-old man is facing four criminal charges after Nashville police say he struck a woman riding an electric scooter with his car in the Gulch, then drove onto the sidewalk and hit her a second time before fleeing the scene. Abulkarim Abdul was taken into custody at an apartment complex on 8th Avenue South after officers tracked down his white Toyota Prius, and he remains in custody as of this week.

According to WSMV, Metro Nashville Police Department officers were dispatched to Old Division Street and 8th Avenue South for a reported pedestrian crash. Per the arrest affidavit cited by the station, Abdul hit the woman from behind with his Prius while she was operating a city scooter, then allegedly hit her again after driving onto the sidewalk. She suffered minor injuries to her right leg, left foot, and one hand.

Driver Allegedly Fled After Boyfriend Threatened to Call Police

The station's report states that Abdul drove away when the woman's boyfriend told him he was calling police. Abdul reportedly told officers he was dropping off food when he hit the woman, and separately told officers he had gotten out to check whether she was okay before driving away — two accounts he reportedly gave investigators about his actions at the scene.

Officers tracked Abdul's Toyota Prius to an apartment complex on 8th Avenue South, where he was taken into custody, per the same account. He now faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of an injury crash, failing to comply, and failing to provide information at the scene of a crash. He is scheduled to appear in court on October 23.

What the Charges Could Mean Under Tennessee Law

Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-102, aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon — a classification state courts have repeatedly applied to motor vehicles — is a Class C felony punishable by three to 15 years in prison and fines up to $10,000, according to Criminal Defense Group. Separately, leaving the scene of an accident involving physical injury is a Class A misdemeanor under T.C.A. § 55-10-101 and § 55-10-103, which requires drivers to stop, exchange identifying information, and render reasonable aid to anyone injured, as explained by Palmer Law, PLC.

Tennessee lawmakers have signaled they want tougher consequences for drivers who flee injury crashes. House Bill 1521, introduced in 2026 and known as the James Bardsley Life Protection Act, proposes elevating that same offense from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony, according to BillTrack50.

Scooter Rules and a Wider Pattern of Fleeing Drivers

Metro Nashville code bars electric rental scooters from sidewalks in designated business districts, instead directing riders into bike lanes or onto roadways with speed limits of 30 mph or lower, per Gyroor. Statewide, the 2019 Electric Scooter Act grants scooters bicycle parity while capping their speed at 20 mph and subjecting riders to Tennessee's DUI laws.

This is not an isolated case. Hoodline has tracked a summer surge of Metro Nashville police hit-and-run investigations across Davidson County, including a July early-morning pedestrian crash in South Nashville that left a victim critically injured, and a separate case in which a maroon sedan fled after a crash that cost a woman her leg. In March 2025, a male e-scooter rider was killed in a hit-and-run on Old Hickory Boulevard in South Nashville after a dark pickup truck struck him and fled; police eventually recovered that vehicle through Crime Stoppers tips. And in June, a 15-year-old girl riding an electric scooter in nearby Spring Hill was fatally struck from behind by a passenger car on U.S. 31.

The pattern has fed into broader civic frustration over road safety in Nashville. Leadership on Mayor Freddie O'Connell's Vision Zero Advisory Committee publicly criticized the slow pace of city safety implementations along high-risk corridors this past March, noting that many dangerous intersections remain unaddressed despite existing crash data, according to the Nashville Scene. The city's Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure launched its Vision Zero Action Plan in 2022 with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries across Metro roads by targeting high-injury corridors with infrastructure redesigns.