Rising country star Conner Smith has broken his silence four weeks after he allegedly struck and killed a 77-year-old Tennessee woman with his car.
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In a statement posted to social media Friday (July 11), the 24-year-old “Creek Will Rise” singer asked his followers to continue praying for Dorothy Dobbins’ family “by name.”
“Not a day has gone by that I haven’t grieved, prayed and mourned for Ms. Dobbins and her family,” Smith wrote. He added that his “heart is broken in a way I’ve never experienced.”
“I still struggle to fully process the weight of it all,” he said.
Continuing, Smith explained that he chose to cancel several subsequent performances “out of respect for everyone involved.”
“I have always found that making music and playing shows is a place of healing for me—but for this moment, it was important for me to take time away,” he wrote.
Concluding the message, Smith wrote that he has “leaned on [God] every step of the way.”
“Through tragedy, I have learned that God is more faithful than I could have ever known before,” he wrote.
Before signing his name, Smith wrote the Bible verse “Psalm 91,” a prayer of comfort and protection.
Police Charged Conner Smith in Fatal Crash
According to Nashville’s WTVC NewsChannel9, the Metro Nashville Police Department has charged Conner Smith with Failure to Yield the Right of Way Resulting in Death, a class A misdemeanor.
Initial reports say that the singer was driving a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck on June 8 when he hit Dorothy Dobbins. The 77-year-old Germantown resident was walking her dog in a marked crosswalk at 3rd Avenue North near Van Buren Street.
Witnesses say that Smith immediately ran to Dobbins to provide aid until paramedics arrived from the Nashville Fire Department. MNPD officers say they found no evidence that the “I Hate Alabama” singer was driving impaired or distracted.
Officials took Dobbins to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where doctors pronounced her dead.
Smith will appear in court on Aug. 7 for the citation.
Featured image by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Big Machine Label Group
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