A Kentucky man sleeping inside a cardboard box in a cemetery was crushed to death in a bizarre hit-and-run — and the groundskeeper tried to help the suspect cover it up, police said.
Brad Brinkley, 40, was behind the wheel when he allegedly mowed down the box at Bethany Cemetery on the outskirts of Louisville without realizing Carl Michael Kinley, 45, was sleeping inside.
Kinley’s grieving brother, Charles Barbe, remembered him as a generous soul who was well-loved in the community.
“I got a million questions, a million questions,” Barbe told local outlet WDRB.
“Everybody loved him. The dude would take the shirt off his back for anybody, you know? He would give his last meal to somebody else if they were hungry, you know? I mean, just that kind of guy.”
After running over the container, Brinkley drove back over to the area to check what he hit, according to the outlet.
When he got out of his vehicle, Kinley’s hand was visibly sticking out of the crushed box, according to court documents — which noted fresh tire marks across the makeshift shelter.
Eyewitnesses told authorities that Brinkley sat silently in his truck with his head down before bolting from the cemetery without talking to anyone.
Typically, he stuck around the cemetery and helped out with removing tarps after funerals, according to Bethany Cemetery staff.
Employees flagged down a member of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department to report a man was found dead at the back of the property, the outlet reported.
Brinkley told groundskeeper Thomas Litsey, 60, that he knew he had run over a person before fleeing the scene, and Litsey tried to cover up for him, police said.
Litsey initially told cops that he found the body, but later recanted his statement and allegedly said Brinkley was the one who told him about it.
Brinkley could not explain why he didn’t contact the police after seeing the hand and why he quickly left the cemetery.
Brinkley was arrested Thursday and hit with charges including reckless homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving serious injury without rendering aid, tampering with physical evidence, and failure to report a traffic accident.
Litsey was arrested and charged with complicity to tampering with physical evidence. Police believe he was trying to shield Brinkley from any suspicion.
A Kentucky judge set Brinkley’s bond at $250,000 and Litsey’s bond at $50,000.
