LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) – A Polk County judge set bond on Friday for a man accused of killing a woman when he crashed his truck into her Lakeland home.
The judge set bond at $156,500 for 24-year-old Ryan Tallant, of Plant City.
Investigators tell News Channel 8 that Tallant was wasted behind the wheel when he lost control of the truck and “exploded” into a Lakeland home. The truck slammed into a bedroom, killing 76-year-old Janice Folds, and ended up in the kitchen of the home on Orange Valley Drive, near Fitzgerald Road.
Reverend Wyatt Folds wasn’t injured, but his wife, Janice was killed instantly.
“My husband was here and he heard the explosion and tires screeching,” said one neighbor who did not want to be identified. She told News Channel 8 that when Tallant got out of the truck, he tried to leave the scene, but her husband and another neighbor held him there until deputies arrived.
“He saw the gentleman that was driving the truck coming out, and then another neighbor came over, and helped keep him where he was,” she said.
Rev. Wyatt Folds and Janet Folds were married for 55 years, Judd says, but it “ended in blink of an eye in this terrible tragedy. Tallant, with his recklessness, changed this beautiful family forever,” Judd said.
The neighbor says she is praying for Tallant, just as Jan would. “I pray for that man because everything is against him,” she said “He has a whole life to either turn around and make it better, or keep going down the wrong road.”
Tallant claims he was driving only 40 mph. He was given a field sobriety test that Sheriff Grady Judd said he “failed miserably”.
Tallant is charged with DUI Manslaughter, Vehicular Homicide, DUI Refusal-2nd or subsequent offense, and No Seatbelt. If he posts bond he will have to follow certain conditions such as wearing a GPS monitor, following a curfew, no driving, no drinking, and random breath tests.
Tallant already has an arrest history including Battery, Grand Theft, and even another DUI back in 2009.
