The driver who crashed his vehicle into American Pickers star Mike Wolfe and girlfriend Leticia Cline’s car in September— causing gruesome and lasting injuries for Leticia— has been charged with DUI and vehicular assault, The Sun reports.
As The Ashley previously reported, Mike shared details about the accident on social media in September, revealing at the time that both he and Leticia had been injured in the car crash and that Leticia remained in the hospitalized.
Leticia later posted an update to her Instagram Story, revealing that she had suffered a broken jaw, broken ribs, sternum, collapsed lung and swelling on her spine.
“My mouth will be wired shut but I still got my brain and that’s all that matters,” she wrote.
According to The Sun, Lerone Heads– the 76-year-old man who crashed his vehicle into the couple’s Porsche in Columbia, Tennessee, that day– has been charged with two counts of vehicular assault, DUI, and failure to yield to the right of way, resulting in serious bodily injury.
The driver was initially released from jail on a $20,000 bond. At the time that the accident occurred, the driver was on probation for domestic assault; he was also arrested in October on a probation violation stemming from a June 2024 arrest for an aggravated domestic assault charge. (Lerone reportedly pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of domestic assault and was subsequently placed on probation, The Sun reports.)
Leticia recently shared that she continues to undergo acupuncture due to some of her facial muscles remaining paralyzed from the accident.
“It’s been three months and one week since the accident, and I am at 40 [percent] of what I used to be,” she wrote.
Leticia went on to share that she and Mike recently went to court, where she had to “see the face” of the driver who allegedly caused the accident, as well as her subsequent injuries. (Mike and Leticia were in court for another case the man is facing, not the case related to the September car crash.)
“ … we were there to tell our story, so the judge would revoke his probation,” she wrote. “The DA and his public defender did an agreement only to revoke half of his probation and give him time served.
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“Then we have our case in January … if they find him guilty and charge him with our case, then he could get 15 years, which means he would be 91 when he gets out,” she continued.
Leticia then shared with fans part of her victim impact statement that she read in court, which she began by noting the past behavior of the driver who caused the accident, insisting that it wasn’t just a “terrible mistake” that the individual had made, but rather a “documented pattern of violent and dangerous behavior.”
“ … I understand the limitations of what I can say here, so I will simply note that his record shows serious past offenses that are not minor missteps,” Leticia wrote. “They are warnings, clear warnings, about who he is when he’s given freedom and another chance.”
Leticia expressed that she was “beyond disappointed” to be standing in court because of the man, but even more disappointed and “deeply let down by a system that allowed this to happen at all.”
“Had he been held accountable in the past, had he not been given repeated opportunities to harm again, I would not be struggling to form words today, I would not be waking up afraid … I would not be in pain every day,” she expressed. “I am not asking the court for vengeance. I am asking for protection.”
Leticia also updated fans about the injuries she’s still dealing with months after the crash– in addition to the partial facial paralyzation she’s experiencing– which include blurry eyesight, muffled hearing, “limited” eating and talking, as well as continued pain.
“They call this the suicide disease, trigeminal neuralgia,” she wrote.
(According to the Mayo Clinic, trigeminal neuralgia is a condition that causes intense pain similar to an electric shock on one side of the face. Even light touches can trigger this jolt of pain and the chronic pain condition can be long-lasting.)
Leticia revealed that she’s also dealing with “intercostal nerve damage” in her ribs, making it difficult for her to sit upright, as well as a ruptured breast implant, which she cannot have fixed until the broken bones in her chest have fully healed.
“I don’t know all the dental work needed yet, since I can’t open my mouth wide enough to have a dentist look at it, but we know my bite is off and nerves in my teeth are dead,” she concluded.
Lerone Heads’ next hearing for this case will be held on January 21.
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(Photos: Instagram)
