RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A grieving family is demanding change after a 22-year-old was shot and killed on Interstate 24 over the weekend.

No highway cameras recorded the shooting.

A road safety advocate is joining in on their call for action.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation operates 551 cameras.

You can go online through TDOT's SmartWay website and view in real-time video of traffic. But none of it is recorded.

After his daughter Hannah died in 2016, roadside safety advocate Stephen Eimers started recording on his end, studying guard rail failures.

"I use them to study the performance, but I've also seen the videos that show what happened, which are often key to giving the family the answers that they want and ultimately deserve," Eimers explained.

This weekend, Eimers told News 2 that law enforcement reached out to him to see if he had recorded video of the shooting that killed 22-year-old Noah Taylor along I-24 in La Vergne early Saturday morning.

Eimers said he has not been able to record a TDOT video recently.

"I had to tell them I didn't have video footage," Eimers said tearfully. "I believe it is very likely that I could have captured the events leading up to the event, the event, and the post-event departure. I wouldn't share that publicly, but I would share it with law enforcement."

Meanwhile, Noah's family is heartbroken and angry.

"If they know that is a problem area, why is it not being monitored 24/7?" grandmother to Noah Taylor, Tina Jacob, asked. "Why do people still have to die there?"

TDOT said the cameras were installed for real-time traffic management, not archival purposes. A representative added, "Recording and storing continuous video would require significant storage infrastructure and resources."

But Eimers said a solution is still possible.

"The cameras are there; they are streaming; why are we not archiving this?" Eimers asked. "We are not better off in the state of Tennessee today because we don't record our cameras."

Several other states already record and archive highway activity.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Iowa saves three days of video from over 300 cameras. Minnesota records four days' worth of video from 760 cameras. New Jersey records on over 400 cameras, and the feeds are retained for at least seven days. Wisconsin has around 400 cameras that record nearly all feeds for at least 72 hours.

Eimers told News 2 that the same initiative is needed in Tennessee.

"We need answers for one, how this happened and two, what the state intends to do moving forward," Eimers concluded. "There will be another family. Noah's will not be the last one." 

If you do have any dashboard footage or information in this case, you’re asked to call the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office directly, or you can submit tips anonymously to Rutherford County Crime Stoppers at 615-893-STOP (7867).

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/after-i-24-shooting-death-questions-rise-why-tdot-cameras-arent-recorded/