NASHVILLE—An illegal immigrant admitted to killing a Nashville business owner in a hit-and-run, a detective testified on Tuesday.
Nashville Police Homicide Detective Tyler Manivong testified during a preliminary hearing that 29-year-old Ulises Martinez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, admitted to police last month that he was driving the truck that on June 19 struck 42-year-old Matt Carney in the parking lot of Smokin Thighs, Carney’s popular chicken restaurant and bar. Carney died from his injuries on July 4.
Martinez was arrested on July 18 and charged by police with criminal homicide, multiple counts of felony theft, criminal impersonation, tampering with evidence, and evading arrest.
The Daily Wire was first to confirm Martinez’s immigration status with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which said it did not know when Martinez illegally entered the country. Nashville Judge Jim Todd dismissed three previous felony charges against Martinez in March, just months before the hit-and-run.
Martinez appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit for the preliminary hearing at the Justice A.A. Birch building in Nashville. He fidgeted throughout the hearing as he an interpreter translated the proceedings for him.
Carney’s friends, co-workers, and family — including wife, Molly — attended the hearing and were emotional as Judge Robin Kimbrough-Hayes heard evidence about the hit-and-run. Kimbrough-Hayes ruled that Nashville prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Lody Powers, had met the burden of proof and bonded the case over to a grand jury.
Manivong testified that Martinez admitted during an interview with police after his arrest that he was driving the Nissan Frontier truck that struck Carney. The detective said Martinez told him that he and 31-year-old Adrian Diaz-Aguirre drove into the Smokin Thighs parking lot the day of the incident, where they spotted a blue truck with power tools in the back.
Manivong said Martinez told him that Diaz-Aguirre got out and began stealing the tools before Carney came out and tried to stop them.
“They tried to drive away,” Manivong said, adding that Martinez claimed that Carney jumped on the hood of the truck to stop them. Diaz-Aguirre reportedly told Matinez to, “go, go, go,” and “so he accelerated,” Manivong said.
After the incident, Manivong said that Martinez told him “he was afraid of getting arrested” and that a man named Kevin had sold the tools they stole from Carney.
Diaz-Aguirre is also an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has been deported four times, most recently in 2020. He has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for aggravated burglary in Tennessee 2014, possession of controlled substances in Indiana in 2019, and illegal re-entry in Indiana in 2020.
The court also heard testimony from several people who witnessed the hit-and-run. A man named Andrew Peapos said he was out running in the area around Smokin Thighs on June 19 when he saw a “black truck sped off in the distance” after seeing “a body floating over the car.”
Peapos ran up to Carney, who was thrown into the street, and called 911. He said that Carney was bleeding a lot and that a nurse who showed up at the scene was unable to administer CPR to him “because he was in such a bad state.”
Another witness, a woman named Olivia Lehing, said she was driving when she saw a truck send a body “into the air” and then drive “very fast” away from the scene.
Police traffic crash investigator Jarett Ipox and private investigator Robert Young of Covert Results testified about the investigation during the hearing. Young, who was a friend of Carney’s, helped track down Martinez and surveillance footage that helped police identify the truck. Young noted that just 26 seconds elapsed between when Carney left his restaurant and when he was hit.
The case now goes to a grand jury to consider the charges Martinez may face. ICE has placed an immigration detainer on Martinez, barring his release.
Carney’s death made national headlines when former President Donald Trump spoke about him during a rally in Montana earlier this month.
“Look at what’s happening to our cities. Our cities are being overrun,” Trump said. “On July 4th, a 42-year-old Nashville man died after he tried to stop an illegal alien from stealing tools out of his truck. The illegal alien did a number on this man that nobody could even believe. The police officers said one of the most vicious crimes they’ve ever seen.”
