3 Doors Down Bassist Robert Todd Harrell Charged With Vehicular Homicide

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3 Doors Down bassist Robert Todd Harrell has been charged with vehicular homicide after a deadly crash Friday evening left another driver dead. Details are still a little fuzzy on what exactly happened, but apparently, the musician’s vehicle made contact with a pickup truck being driven by Paul Howard Shoulders. The collision caused Shoulders’ vehicle to careen down an embankment, and he was later thrown through the windshield.

According to TMZ, Harrell admitted to authorities he drank hard cider and popped two prescription pills prior to the crash. A search of his person later reportedly uncovered a plastic bag in his sock filled with Xanax, oxycodone and oxymorphone pills. That should increase the number of charges when he heads to trial, but right now, all of the alleged drug issues are obviously taking a back seat to the vehicular homicide.

The forty-one-year-old bass player is still in police custody. Bail has been set at $100,000, and the band released an official statement on its website mourning Shoulders’ loss.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Paul Howard Shoulders, Jr. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends at this difficult time."

Deadly car accidents are a sad fact of life, but those involving drugs or alcohol are entirely preventable. If the facts really are as they’ve been reported, Harrell is going to need to pay for his crime. Hopefully, he does that and when he emerges, it’s as a clean and sober man with a new mentality.

Mack Rawden
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Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.