It was meant to be just another routine broadcast — a phone held up to a dashboard, comments rolling in, a familiar face chatting to followers in real time.
Instead, it became a moment that would end a man’s life and change several families forever.
Weeks after the fatal incident, TikTok personality Tea Tyme — real name Tynesha McCarty-Wroten, 43 — has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of 59-year-old pedestrian Darren Lucas, who was struck while crossing a suburban Chicago intersection.
The Broadcast That No One Can Unhear
According to police, the crash happened on November 3 while McCarty-Wroten was livestreaming as she drove. Viewers heard a sudden thud — followed by her panicked voice breaking through the stream.
“I just hit somebody,” she could be heard saying.
Moments later, the confusion turned heavier. A child in the back seat asked what had happened. Another adult voice checked if the driver was okay.
But someone else was lying in the street.
Darren Lucas would not survive.
Arrested Weeks Later
This week, McCarty-Wroten was taken into custody in Zion, Illinois. Authorities booked her on two felony charges: reckless homicide and aggravated use of communications resulting in death — a charge that reflects the alleged role of the livestream in the fatal crash.
Police allege she was distracted by the broadcast at the moment she struck Lucas as he crossed the road.
Livestreaming while driving is illegal in many jurisdictions and widely recognised as a serious danger, with authorities repeatedly warning that any activity that diverts eyes or hands from the road can be treated as a criminal offence.
Public Anger Boils Over
Outrage erupted online not only because of the crash — but because of what came after.
Just days following the incident, McCarty-Wroten reportedly returned to social media and asked viewers to send her Cash App donations to support what she described as a “mental leave” from the internet.
The reaction was immediate and fierce.
“How can you ask for money after this?” one commenter wrote.
Another added: “No remorse at all.”
The backlash spread rapidly, with users across platforms condemning what they saw as a shocking lack of sensitivity toward the victim’s family.
“We’re Glad To See Justice Moving”
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For Darren Lucas’s loved ones, the arrest came after weeks of waiting.
His son-in-law, Chris King, said the family had been notified by prosecutors that McCarty-Wroten had been taken into custody.
“The family and myself are glad to see the wheels of justice moving,” he said.
Behind those words is a family learning how to live with a permanent absence — one that began with a single distracted moment behind the wheel.
When Content Becomes Consequence
This tragedy has reopened a painful question for the social-media age: what happens when the drive for attention overtakes responsibility?
A livestream lasts minutes. A life lasts forever.
And for one family, November 3 will never be just another day scrolling through a feed.
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