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Popular Gibson employee killed in cycle accident
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
August 03, 2006

Tragic details about a Tuesday night accident that left a motorcyclist dead emerged Wednesday, as the cyclist was identified as a well-known Nashville musician, and the man charged with vehicular homicide, drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident is believed by authorities to be an illegal immigrant.

Metro Police confirmed Wednesday that Charles A. “Charlie” Derrington, was killed when his 2005 Yamaha was struck head-on by a Ford Explorer being driven on the wrong side of the median on Briley Parkway near Robertson Avenue.

Derrington, 51, of Vine Ridge Drive, was the general manager of Gibson’s Original Acoustic Instruments Division and a long-time employee of the Nashville-based company.

“Gibson Guitar lost a true and passionate friend this week,” Gibson Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said in a written statement. “Charlie [was] an extraordinary bluegrass musician, loving husband, father and jovial friend to all who met him and will be forever missed by many who knew him. He was devoted to his family and his work and spent many years leading our Original Acoustic Instrument division in which he was most passionate about. His amazing presence, simply, cannot be replaced.”

Derrington often played at the Station Inn – where his wife is a bartender – along with his band “Traylor Parker.”

His most notable accomplishment, though, came in the mid-1980s when, as a young Gibson technician, he took on the four-month task of successfully repairing Bill Monroe’s smashed F-5 mandolin.

A number of Gibson employees contacted Wednesday echoed the heartfelt sentiments expressed in Juszkiewicz’s statement.

Also on Wednesday, Metro Police released additional information about Julio Villasana, a suspected illegal immigrant and the driver they believe struck and killed Derrington.

Police said Villasana, 33, of Louisville, was intoxicated when, at 8:45 p.m., he drove his Ford Explorer north on the southbound lanes of Briley Parkway before hitting Derrington’s motorcycle.

After the crash, Villasana jumped out of his car and tried to flee the scene, escaping civilian attempts to detain him, police said.

He was caught a short time later by West Precinct officers and given a field sobriety test, which police determined he failed.

Police charged Villasana with vehicular homicide by intoxication and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries.

Metro Police on Wednesday learned from U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) that Villasana has been deported and there is no record of his legal re-entry.

Metro police said Villasana has no prior arrest record in Nashville. It could not be learned at press time if Villasana has an arrest record in Louisville.

ICE has placed a federal hold on Villasana, who is being held in Metro jail.

“If the preliminary information is correct, this man made a decision to violate our nation’s immigration laws more than once and travels from state to state,” Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said in a statement. “This case points to why the federal government must step up its efforts. Local and state governments must have meaningful federal assistance in confronting the problem of illegal immigrants, particularly those who chose a criminal lifestyle.”

Villasana has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday, Aug. 7 in Davidson County criminal court.