A Memphis woman is facing felony charges after police say she ran over the father of her children with her car while their five kids were riding inside, then tried to hit him a second time before crashing into another vehicle. Jasmine Lewis was arrested following the Tuesday afternoon incident near McLemore Avenue in the Soulsville neighborhood of South Memphis, and she is due back in court Friday.
Officers were flagged down around 4:30 p.m. regarding a domestic disturbance off McLemore Avenue, according to Action News 5. A witness told police the man was walking along Mississippi Boulevard when Lewis pulled up in a black Nissan Sentra. The man later told police he had been hit by a car and identified Lewis as the person responsible, per police records cited in the outlet's report.
Police records indicate Lewis drove her vehicle into the man after a brief conversation between the two. According to Memphis police, Lewis then tried to hit the man again after turning around, but instead caused a traffic accident, striking another vehicle in the process.
Five Children Were Inside During the Chase
Memphis police said Lewis ran over the father of her children while her children were in the vehicle at the time. The station's report states that Lewis admitted to police that she hit the man while her five children were inside the car. Officers later located the Nissan Sentra after noticing it had recently been involved in a crash with another driver.
Lewis is now charged with aggravated assault and domestic violence, domestic assault, and five counts of child endangerment. She is being held on a $150,000 bond, per the same account. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Friday.
What Tennessee Law Says About Vehicles Used as Weapons
Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-102, aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon or domestic violence is classified as a Class C felony, carrying a statutory penalty of three to fifteen years in prison and fines up to $10,000, according to McKinney Law Firm. A motor vehicle can be legally classified as a deadly weapon in these cases, which is what elevates the charge beyond a standard assault.
Separately, reckless endangerment committed with a deadly weapon such as a motor vehicle is a Class E felony punishable by one to six years in prison under TCA § 39-13-103, as outlined by Collins Legal. That statute covers creating an imminent risk of death or serious injury even if no physical harm actually occurs. Tennessee law also imposes a mandatory 12-hour holding period for anyone arrested on domestic assault charges before they become eligible for bail, according to Nicholson & Hall PLLC, a cooling-off measure intended to protect victims.
A Persistent Pattern in Memphis
The Soulsville incident is one of several vehicle-involved domestic violence cases Hoodline has tracked around Memphis this year. In July, a Hickory Hill driver was accused of trying to run over a mother in a fast-food restaurant parking lot while children were present, and in May, a Memphis mother was accused of driving her vehicle toward students following a physical altercation outside Melrose High School. In June, a woman in Uptown Memphis allegedly ran down her boyfriend outside a deli after an argument, resulting in attempted murder and domestic assault charges.
Citywide data suggests domestic violence has proven harder to curb than other violent crime. Major violent crime in Memphis dropped 31.5% in the first half of 2026 compared to the prior year, but domestic violence offenses fell by just 5.7% over the same period, according to figures released by the Memphis-Shelby Crime Commission and the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute and reported by the Tennessee Bar Association. Shelby County recorded more than 16,000 domestic violence offenses in 2025, with over 14,000 of those occurring within Memphis itself, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation logged 3,103 domestic violence offenses in Memphis alone during just the first three months of 2026.
Soulsville, where Tuesday's incident unfolded, is a historic South Memphis community nationally known as the home of Stax Records, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and LeMoyne-Owen College. It is a neighborhood that has also seen other law enforcement activity this year, including a task force raid that seized guns and fentanyl in February. The condition of the man Lewis is accused of striking has not been detailed in available records, and it remains unclear whether Tennessee's Department of Children's Services has opened any parallel review involving the five children who were in the vehicle.
