A Clarksville man has been indicted nearly 10 months after a predawn crash on I-24 sent a helicopter pilot's Jeep Wrangler plunging into the Red River, killing him. James Henry Centers, 28, was arrested on August 12 following a Montgomery County grand jury indictment on charges of vehicular homicide, reckless driving, failure to exercise due care, and violation of implied consent.
The grand jury indictment alleges Centers operated his vehicle with “willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property” and “unlawfully and willingly failed to give consent and submit to a test” for drugs or alcohol, according to ClarksvilleNow.com. Centers is scheduled to be arraigned September 8 in Montgomery County Circuit Court, as reported by News Channel 5 Nashville.
The victim, Michael Atzert, was a 52-year-old veteran helicopter pilot for Air Evac Lifeteam, an emergency air ambulance service. Per authorities, Centers was driving along I-24 when his vehicle collided with the Jeep Wrangler Atzert was driving to work, and both vehicles went off the roadway. Atzert's Jeep continued down an embankment and into the Red River, while Centers' vehicle stopped near the woods.
A Career Spent Saving Lives
Atzert had flown roughly 1,361 patient rescue missions before the crash, the outlet's report notes. Before he took to the skies as a civilian air ambulance pilot, Atzert spent 20 years in the military — nine years in the U.S. Navy and 11 years as an Apache helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army, completing two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, according to a WSMV post. He was on his way to work when the crash happened.
At the time of the collision, Centers was driving a 2004 Lincoln Town Car with an infant passenger inside, and neither Centers nor the infant was injured when the vehicle came to rest near the woods, per a WPSD Local 6 account of the incident.
Hours of Gridlock on I-24
The crash happened around 5 a.m. on November 13, 2025, near mile marker 9.6 on westbound I-24, forcing authorities to shut down the interstate between Exit 11 and Exit 8 for more than eight hours. Traffic backed up past mile marker 18, and surrounding routes like MLK Parkway and Madison Street ground to a standstill during the morning commute, as Hoodline reported at the time.
Recovering Atzert's Jeep from the Red River required a multi-agency response. Clarksville Fire Rescue deployed several specialized units — Engine 2, Squad 1, Ops 2, Rescue 12, and District Chief 3 — working alongside the Tennessee Highway Patrol at the bridge site, the report states.
What the Charges Could Mean
The nearly 10-month gap between the crash and the indictment reflects how protracted crash reconstruction and legal proceedings can be in fatal-crash cases. Under Tennessee Code § 39-13-213, vehicular homicide involving driver intoxication is a Class B felony punishable by eight to 30 years in prison, while vehicular homicide stemming from reckless driving without proven intoxication is generally a Class C felony carrying three to 15 years, according to Nashville Criminal Attorney.
Because the indictment specifies that Centers refused chemical testing, prosecutors may need to rely on officer testimony, physical crash evidence, and driving conduct to establish recklessness without direct blood alcohol content data, per an analysis from Michael Shults Law. Tennessee's implied consent law, Code § 55-10-406, requires drivers suspected of DUI to submit to chemical blood or breath tests, and creates civil administrative penalties for refusal separate from any criminal trial, according to legal reference site TN DUI Book. Effective January 1, 2026, an amended state law increased the administrative license suspension for a first-time chemical test refusal from one year to 18 months, per Grebert Law.
Centers' arraignment is scheduled for September 8 in Montgomery County Circuit Court, where the case will move forward nearly a year after the crash that killed Atzert.
