MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The prosecutor pressing a reckless homicide case against a former Tennessee sheriff's deputy said the accused was going twice the speed limit and didn't have the car's emergency lights on when the vehicle hit and killed a Kentucky child.

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Opening statements in the trial of Ron Killings -- a former detective captain with the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office -- were presented Tuesday in Murfreesboro. Killings has pleaded not guilty.

Special prosecutor Joe Baugh told jurors the evidence would show the car's air bag was deployed and the front crumpled by its impact with 11-year-old Lakeisha White, of Hopkinsville, Ky. She was killed as she crossed a Murfreesboro street in July 2008.

Baugh said in opening statements that evidence showed Killings was traveling 60 mph in a 30 mph zone the night Lakeisha died.

Killings' attorney, Terry Fann, told jurors the girl was killed in an "inexplicable, unavoidable accident" when she ran into a street at night as Killings was answering another officer's call for backup at a police stakeout.

Fann said the death was not a homicide.

"There were three kids there, and one of them decided to race across the street," Fann said.

He told jurors that his client was just doing his job the night the accident occurred. He said that jurors wouldn't hear testimony to the fact that White “darted out into the road” that night in 2008. He also assured jurors that “this was purely an accident, and there was no recklessness on Killings' part at all.”

The state’s first witness, Murfreesboro police investigator Terry Spence, painted the scene that night. He said it was dark, and Killings' airbag did deploy. Spence testified he noticed pink flip-flops and blood on the road that night.

Spence was part of the investigation as a photographer on the scene of the crash.

In the defense’s questioning, Spence testified that he was surprised children would be out playing in the street so late at night. He testified that it is an area with a lot of drug activity.

Spence also testified that it is common for officers to speed when responding to a call for backup and that they receive training for that purpose.

The state’s second witness, Sgt. Shawn Murphy of the Murfreesboro Police Fatal Accident Crash Team, testified that it was a chaotic scene that night and it was in the best interest to remove Killings from the scene. He also testified the point of impact couldn’t be found.

During cross-examination, Murphy testified that Killings was completely appropriate when asked to take a blood test. Murphy also testified that while watching a portion of Killings' taped statement, he recalled Killings saying he was on his cell phone at the time of the collision.

The judge clarified to the jurors that there are four pieces of evidence that all parties agree as fact. Those pieces of evidence taken as fact are: Killings' blood-alcohol level was negative, toxicology for drugs in Killings' system was negative, the headlights and taillights on the patrol car were working at time of impact and Lakeisha tested negative for drugs and alcohol.

The trial is being heard by a jury chosen Monday in Chattanooga.

The Daily News Journal reported the child's grandmother Brenda Carneal became emotional at the outset after hearing Killings' not guilty plea entered. She was escorted from the courtroom.

A family member has said a civil lawsuit in the child's death has been settled out of court for a little more than $200,000.

The jury will be sequestered in Rutherford County throughout the trial.

Reporter Deanna Lambert contributed to this story.