KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – A Knoxville man is charged with vehicular homicide after a severed torso was found in his car during a traffic stop early Sunday morning.
Dorrae Johnson, 29, is also charged with evading arrest and driving while license revoked.
Arrest paperwork shows around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, an officer stopped Johnson’s vehicle on Papermill Drive for failing to maintain his lane on Interstate 40.
As the officer walked toward the vehicle, the report says Johnson yelled out the window that he had to get to his family’s home and he sped off.
The officer pursued Johnson as he took the Sutherland Avenue exit. The officer noticed that Johnson hit a curb and blew out a tire while going the wrong way on the roadway. He then crossed the yellow fog line and hit a utility pole.
The report says Johnson then got out of the vehicle and started running. The officer caught up with him and took him into custody.
The officer noticed Johnson smelled of alcohol and, had bloodshot, watery eyes and was staggering. Johnson admitted he was “blitzed.”
When the officer went to turn off the ignition to the car, he spotted a severed torso in the passenger floorboard that was missing its lower half. The officer asked Johnson who was in the car with him, and said the passenger and he had switched seats.
The officer found the rest of the victim’s body at the scene of impact, including his wallet that revealed him to be Darryl Eugene Butler.
Officers believe Butler was a pedestrian who was hit in the roadway and killed by Johnson.
