Nashville, Tennessee: Distracted Driver Rear-Ends Pedal Tavern, Injuring Nine Passengers, One Critically

Nine people were injured on Thursday night in downtown Nashville when a driver who told police he was distracted rear-ended a pedal tavern carrying 12 passengers.

The crash happened around 8:30 p.m. near 1033 Demonbreun Street, close to 11th Avenue South, in the Gulch area. A westbound Toyota RAV4 hit the pedal tavern from behind, Metro Nashville police said. Nine of the 12 passengers were hurt, at least two of them seriously.

Neither driver was injured: not the man driving the RAV4, and not the driver of the pedal tavern.

One passenger in critical condition

Six of the injured were taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A hospital spokesperson said five of those patients were stable and one was in critical condition.

Police spokesperson Kris Mumford said the RAV4 driver told officers he had been distracted, but investigators had not yet determined what took his attention. Mumford described the passengers as an older crowd and said police did not yet know where they were from.

She also said she was not aware of a previous crash involving a pedal tavern in the city. Police said they would investigate and speak with the driver. In the first hours after the crash, police had not released the driver's name or any charges.

Street closed for the investigation

Police and Nashville Fire crews responded to the scene. Authorities expected the area around the crash to stay closed for several hours while the investigation continued.

The Metro Nashville Police Department posted the first account of the crash on X early on Friday, and local station WSMV also reported multiple people injured after the pedal tavern was struck.

Pedal taverns are a familiar sight in downtown Nashville. The open, slow-moving vehicles carry groups of visitors through the entertainment district, and riders pedal while a driver steers. The city has limited permits for the vehicles in recent years and added restrictions after complaints from downtown businesses about safety and congestion.

Thursday's crash puts those questions back in front of the city, with nine passengers in hospital beds and one of them in critical condition. For now, the police investigation is focused on a single point the driver himself raised at the scene: he was distracted, and investigators are working out by what.