Cedric Wayne Spencer, a 61-year-old man from Birmingham, Alabama, died on April 18, 2021, after violence unfolded outside a business on Pawnee Village Road in east Jefferson County. Deputies were dispatched that Sunday morning, around 8:15 a.m., after he was found unresponsive at the location, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators pieced together the night before through surveillance video and witness information, describing an argument between Spencer and a woman later
identified as Tomeka Sims of Fairfield. Authorities said the dispute escalated when Sims got into Spencer’s vehicle and drove off while he was still caught on or connected to the car, dragging him until he fell to the ground.
The footage and investigative accounts described something even more deliberate after he hit the ground: Sims allegedly returned in the same vehicle and rolled over him multiple times. Deputies also described her leaving and then coming back again, with Spencer managing at one point to roll beneath the bed of a tractor-trailer, as if trying to shield himself from the car. The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office later attributed his death to blunt-force injuries consistent with being struck multiple times by a vehicle.
Detectives identified Sims as the suspect and arrested her, booking her into the Jefferson County Jail on a murder charge, with early reports listing a $50,000 bond. Officials also said she and Spencer had been in a long-term dating relationship. In the publicly available reporting and official release describing the arrest, no additional suspects were identified in connection with Spencer’s death.
