Attorney Disputes State Police Account in Fatal Crash Involving Former LSU Star Kyren Lacy
In an interview with HTV 10, the attorney representing former LSU wide receiver Kyren Lacy pushed back against Louisiana State Police claims that his client was responsible for a fatal January 2025 crash.
Lacy was initially accused of negligent homicide after troopers alleged he “recklessly passed multiple vehicles at a high rate of speed,” leading to a head-on collision that killed 78-year-old Herman Hall. Authorities said Lacy’s Dodge Charger forced a truck driver to brake and swerve, triggering the chain reaction.
Days before he was scheduled to appear before a grand jury, Lacy died by suicide.
His attorney, Matt Ory, sat down with HTV’s Martin Folse for a 40-minute interview, presenting the district attorney’s findings alongside surveillance footage. Ory argued the evidence does not support the conclusion that Lacy caused the crash.
According to documents Ory says came from the DA’s review of the incident, “The evidence submitted in the report does not support that Kyren Lacy should have known his actions were the cause of the crash that happened approximately 72 yards in front of him.” (HTV, citing DA report).
Ory acknowledged that Lacy passed four vehicles in a no-passing zone at about 35–40 mph. However, he said Lacy was back in his lane roughly 90 yards behind where the crash occurred.
“He was 72.6 yards [away] before the collision,” Ory said. “He is almost a football field back in his lane. You can see another car come to a stop and then Kyren Lacy come to a stop.”
While admitting Lacy’s maneuver was illegal, Ory said the distance shows he was not “actively passing” when the collision occurred. He noted that state law requires drivers to return to their lane within 100 feet when passing legally—Lacy was already back more than 120 yards from the vehicles involved, Ory argued.
“In the conclusion of the district attorney’s report, [LSP] gave the impression that Kyren Lacy was actively passing vehicles when the crash occurred, which is incorrect,” Ory told HTV.
Ory also highlighted testimony from the second driver involved in the collision, who reportedly said she swerved to avoid a gold truck rather than Lacy’s Charger. According to Ory, the trooper interviewing her “attempted to recap what she was saying, which seems to contradict her statements.”
He further provided body-camera footage of the same trooper later instructing the gold truck’s driver to write that he “had to slam on [his] brakes to avoid that Charger.” On camera, the driver instead said he “wasn’t going fast” and “didn’t even cause any skid marks.” Ory claimed the body camera was switched off as the driver wrote his official report, which stated he had to “slam on the brakes” and use his emergency brake.
Ory also criticized investigators for failing to interview a passenger who was inside Lacy’s car at the time of the crash.
“There was another passenger in Kyren Lacy’s car. They knew this. They have video footage of this individual getting out of the car,” Ory said. “Why didn’t you identify him? Why wouldn’t you want to question the one person with one of the best views of the incident?”
(Statements attributed to the DA’s report, per HTV.)
