The man charged in the fatal hit-and-run death of a Dayton, Tenn., thrift store employee now faces charges of first-degree murder.
Douglas Edward Alvey's charges were upgraded in December from an original count of criminal homicide after a Rhea County grand jury heard the case late last month, court officials said. Alvey, 52, was arrested in September after the crash that killed Walter Hale, who had worked for six years at the We Care Thrift Center on Market Street in Dayton, where the incident happened.
Hale was hospitalized for his injuries on Sept. 6 and died Sept. 10. About two weeks later, Alvey was identified as the driver of the pickup truck that struck Hale and charged with criminal homicide.
During the initial investigation, Dayton Police Department Chief Chris Sneed said surveillance video from minutes before the incident showed a man, now identified as Alvey, walking around inside the We Care store, shopping, measuring furniture and talking with store employees. Hale was behind the store when a pickup truck driven by Alvey pulled up to the loading dock area, the chief said.
"The truck drives out, and it appears the truck accelerated, hit [Hale], and drove out on Iowa Avenue and turned left as if going toward Market Street," Sneed said in September.
As the truck sped away, Hale fell off the hood and was run over and left lying near the Krystal restaurant across the street from the store, Sneed said.
Hale started working at the thrift store in Dayton after the business he worked at on Rossville Boulevard in Chattanooga closed, We Care manager Ina Carol Ring said in the days after the man's death. Ring said other Hale family members have worked at the store, too.
"Everybody here loved him," Ring said.
Meanwhile Alvey remains behind bars on $400,000 bond, jail officials said. A date for discussion of the case is set for Feb. 1, and Feb. 8 has been set for entering a plea or setting a trial date, officials said.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.