Suspect in fatal hit-and-run that killed Shelbyville Police officer still grieving similar loss

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The suspect in a fatal hit-and-run motorcycle crash made an emotional court appearance on Wednesday.

The suspect is 28-year-old Ashley Catlett. Police said she left the scene of a fatal crash early Tuesday morning on Outer Loop.

According to a family member, Catlett is devastated about causing another family to suffer the same grief she has felt for the last 10 years.

"She had called me from her boyfriend's and told me that she had hit somebody," said her mother, Donna Catlett.

Tuesday morning, Catlett received a very disturbing phone call from her daughter.

"And from what she heard, she had killed him," she said.

Catlett said, at the time, the only thing she could offer her daughter was tough love.

"She needed to get her butt down there and turn herself in," she said. "That way, it won’t look as bad on her and she was crazy for running."

According to police, Ashley Catlett was heading west on the Outer Loop, turned onto Briarcliff Road and collided with a motorcyclist.

"She said she didn't see him at all. She said she was making a left-hand turn and bam, he was there. And she hit him," said Donna Catlett.

The motorcyclist was off-duty Shelbyville Police Officer Thomas Elmore. Police said Elmore was thrown more than 90-feet on impact and died at the scene.

"She got scared. That's all I can think of. She wasn't thinking with a level head," said Donna Catlett.

After the crash, police said Catlett left her car at the scene and went to a nearby friend's house on Cutler Road. That friend called 911 and Catlett was eventually arrested.

Wednesday morning, Catlett was emotional during her first court appearance. Her mother said there was a reason why there was so much emotion in court.

"She just kept saying 'Mom, I can't believe I put somebody else in this position,'" explained Donna Catlett.

In July of 2012, three of Catlett's family members died in a fatal crash. They were on their way home from vacation in Tennessee when the crash happened.

"She lost her dad 10 years ago and she knows what it's like to not have a father," said Donna Catlett. "Her dad, her stepmom, and her sister all three in the same day. She couldn't believe that she had put somebody else in the same position that she was. ... That the wife would no longer have her husband and the kids no longer have their dad, is really bugging her big time."

Shortly after the 2012 crash, WDRB News talked to Ashley Catlett. Back then, Catlett was 17 years old and seemed very aware of the impact of a tragic loss.

"I kind of see it as my second chance, 'cause I could have been in that car," she said at the time. "I cry and of course, I miss 'em. It's definitely not something I would wish on anyone's family at all."

Right now, Catlett is being held on a $50,000 cash bond. She is scheduled to be back in court next month.

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