Ex-director of Louisville's youth detention center pleads not guilty to leaving crash scene

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former city director was booked into Louisville Metro Corrections and immediately released on charges connected to crashing a city-owned vehicle and leaving the scene of the crash.

A not guilty plea was entered on behalf of Toni Rice, the former director for Louisville's Youth Transitional Services, after a grand jury indicted her on the following charges:

Criminal Mischief
Tampering with Physical Evidence
Leaving the Scene of an Accident/Failure to Render Aid
Falsely Reporting an Incident
Intimidating a Participant in a Legal Process (two counts)
Tampering with a Witness
Official Misconduct

Rice formally resigned on Aug. 20. She was originally scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, Sept. 16, but was able to get in front of a judge Friday morning. During Friday's appearance, Judge Brian C. Edwards signed off on an order to waive typical arraignment procedures, allowing her to pay a $5,000 bond and avoid the process of being formally arraigned in jail court with a number of other inmates.

Rice's attorney, Keith Kamenish, said Rice planned to pay her bond before being booked into Metro Corrections so she could be immediately released.

The commonwealth confirmed in court that those terms were agreed to prior to the hearing, saying "it reflects the defendant's ties to the community with a lack of the criminal history, but commensurate with the nature of the charges in this case."

Rice's resignation came nearly a month after her city-issued vehicle was found crashed near Brownsboro Road in July. At the time, city leaders said they couldn't say much about the circumstances surrounding her resignation because the Louisville Metro Police Department was still investigating the crash.

Michael Scheser told WDRB he witnessed Rice's actions after the crash as he was on his way home from the Louisville Muhamad Ali International Airport when he and his wife stopped to see if she needed any help.

"I noticed a car with its lights on on the opposite side of the guardrail," Scheser said. "This is like 11:30 at night."

Scheser said he checked to see if someone was inside the car and briefly spoke with Rice, who was still in the driver's seat. She told him police and her family were headed to the scene, but then she got out of the car and left the scene.

"I thought she was just trying to shake off the accident," Scheser said. "You know how you may be nervously pacing, and so I'm watching her, and she's on her phone and she kept walking."

Rice was nowhere to be found when police arrived.

This isn't the first time Rice has been on the wrong side of the law. She was arrested for shoplifting in 2017.

According to her employee file, Rice resigned from her position as director for mental health reasons. In her resignation letter she wrote, "I'm spiraling and I feel it daily."

City officials have not yet commented on the latest developments in the case.

Louisville Metro Corrections Maj. Steven Gilbert was named the interim director of the department responsible for local youth in the juvenile justice system. Gilbert has been the leader of the Metro Corrections Training Academy and worked extensively with staff at Youth Transitional Services on training and protocols for criminally involved youth.

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