Caleb Kennedy, a Top 5 finalist on last season’s American Idol, was arrested Tuesday in connection to a fatal car crash.
The 17-year-old singer was charged with driving under the influence resulting in death in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. According to police, Kennedy drove off the road into a private driveway and slammed his vehicle into a workshop behind a house.
Larry Duane Parris, 54, was struck and died in hospital. Kennedy was treated for injuries he sustained in the crash.
Last May, Kennedy was forced off American Idol after a three-second video clip surfaced showing him with someone wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood. “ “I know this has hurt and disappointed a lot of people and made people lose respect for me,” he wrote on Instagram at the time. “I’m so sorry!”
Kennedy auditioned for Idol with an original song and went on to cover songs by artists like Jason Aldean, Chris Stapleton and Willie Nelson.