A group of Nashville businessmen is posting a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest/indictment of the driver responsible for striking and critically injuring Matthew Carney, 42, the owner of Smokin Thighs restaurant, in a parking lot of the Wedgewood Avenue business shortly before 6 p.m. last Wednesday.
Carney is unconscious at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and has been unable to speak with officers about what happened.
Witnesses reported seeing a 1980s to early 2000s model black pickup truck come from the rear of the restaurant at a high rate of speed and enter onto Wedgewood Avenue. Carney was thrown off that pickup truck onto the Wedgewood Avenue pavement. The truck is then believed to have turned right onto nearby Bransford Avenue and headed outbound. The driver was described as a white man with short hair.
Carney’s vehicle was parked in the rear of the restaurant. It was found running with the door open. It has not been determined what occurred in the rear parking lot between Carney and the unknown driver of the black pickup truck.
Anyone with information about the driver and/or the pickup truck is asked to contact Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463. Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward in addition to the $10,000 privately funded amount.