Former American Idol Contestant Caleb Kennedy Crashes into Building, Killing Victim Inside: Police

A former American Idol contestant has been arrested after a crash in South Carolina that left a man dead.

Caleb Kennedy, 17, is facing a felony DUI resulting in death charge, according to Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway from the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The incident happened Tuesday as Kennedy allegedly drove a 2011 Ford pick-up onto a private residential driveway in Spartanburg and ended up crashing into a building on the property. Police said Larry Duane Parris, 54, was inside the building when the crash occurred and ended up being hit.

“A 2011 Ford pickup was traveling north on W. Murph Road when the vehicle traveled onto a private drive at 269 W. Murph Road and struck a building,” Ridgeway told People magazine. “A person inside the building sustained fatal injury as a result of the collision.”

First responders rushed the victim to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Kennedy was subsequently arrested.

Kennedy made it to the Top 5 on “American Idol” in 2021 but voluntarily removed himself after a video surfaced showing him “sitting next to someone wearing a Klan-like hood.”

The story is developing. Check back for updates.

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