A 30-year-old Nashville man is dead after a two-vehicle crash early Tuesday at the intersection of Harding Place and Linbar Drive, and police say the driver who hit him will face a vehicular homicide charge once she's released from the hospital. Martin Villagomez Jr. was driving a Nissan Altima through the intersection around 2:50 a.m. when a GMC Yukon traveling west on Harding Place ran a red light and struck the driver's side of his car, according to police.
Villagomez was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he died, as reported by WSMV. The driver of the Yukon, 32-year-old Lizbeth Delgado Cruz of La Vergne, was also hospitalized at Vanderbilt with non-life-threatening injuries. Per the Metro Nashville Police Department, a nurse at the hospital detected the odor of alcohol on Delgado Cruz, and police say she will be charged with vehicular homicide by intoxication once she is discharged.
Metro Nashville Police released additional detail on the crash Tuesday, confirming Delgado Cruz was driving west on Harding Place when she ran a red light and hit Villagomez's Altima as he proceeded through the intersection on Linbar Drive, according to Metro Nashville Police Department. She remains hospitalized pending formal charges upon her release.
What a Vehicular Homicide Charge Could Mean
Vehicular homicide by intoxication is classified as a Class B felony under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-213, carrying a sentencing range of eight to 30 years in state prison and fines of up to $25,000, according to Justia Law. Prosecutors would need to prove that impairment was the proximate cause of Villagomez's death.
Under Tennessee legislation that took effect in July 2024, anyone convicted of vehicular homicide by intoxication must serve 100% of their court-imposed sentence, with no eligibility for parole or probation, per Davis & Hoss, PC. That marks a shift from previous state law, which allowed judges discretion to grant probation or earlier parole. A conviction would also trigger a mandatory revocation of Delgado Cruz's driver's license for three to 10 years, with no restricted driving privileges permitted, and courts may additionally require victim impact panel attendance and substance abuse treatment.
Charges could escalate further depending on toxicology results and Delgado Cruz's driving history. State law lowers the blood alcohol threshold for aggravated vehicular homicide from 0.20 percent to 0.15 percent for drivers with qualifying prior DUI or vehicular assault convictions, a change that would elevate the charge to a Class A felony punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison. Whether Delgado Cruz has any prior convictions, and what her toxicology results ultimately show, remain open questions as the investigation continues.
A Dangerous Corridor With a History of Fatal Crashes
The intersection where Villagomez died sits on a stretch of Harding Place that Metro Nashville's 2022-2026 Vision Zero Action Plan designated part of the city's High Injury Network — a group of corridors that make up just 6% of city roadways but account for nearly 60% of all fatal and severe injury crashes citywide. In January, the city's Vision Zero Advisory Committee reviewed potential safety upgrades for Harding Place, including speed radar feedback signs, rumble strips, and traffic signal improvements.
This isn't the first deadly crash at Harding Place and Linbar Drive. In February 2024, a female pedestrian was struck and killed by a box truck at the same intersection; the truck driver was cited for failure to yield, a case Hoodline covered in an earlier Harding Place crash report. Traffic safety data cited by WPLN News in May showed a spike in total roadway fatalities across Davidson County during early 2026 compared to the same period the previous year, including higher numbers of pedestrian, cyclist, and motorist deaths.
Countywide, Metro Nashville Police crash statistics cited in late 2025 show Davidson County recorded 26,152 total motor vehicle collisions in 2024, resulting in 116 fatalities and more than 8,000 injuries, according to The Williams Firm. Impaired driving and excessive speed were cited among the leading causes. Delgado Cruz's case now adds to a string of recent Nashville prosecutions involving vehicular homicide by intoxication, including a wrong-way teen driver charged in a fatal Briley Parkway crash in May and a Nashville mother charged in January after a crash that killed her son.
