On November 5, 2025, my mother, Annie Estelle Maples, was riding as a passenger in Nashville when another driver failed to yield and caused the crash that took her life. She died two days later, on November 7, 2025.

The driver was charged under Tennessee law — T.C.A. § 55-8-197 — with failure to yield resulting in death. In Tennessee, that is only a Class A misdemeanor. The sentence was probation, classes, and fines. No jail time. And the driver was driving uninsured.

The driver can go to her mother's house to see her, but I have to go to the graveyard to see mine.

A life was taken, and the law calls it a misdemeanor — the same level as a minor offense. That is not justice, and it does not protect anyone else's mother, father, or child on Tennessee roads.

We are asking the Tennessee General Assembly to change the law so that failure to yield resulting in death is a felony offense, with mandatory multi-year license revocation and penalties that reflect the harm done.

No family should have to bury their loved one and then watch the person responsible walk away with probation.

— Angela Hambrick, daughter of Annie Estelle Maples