Information from WYSH Radio
An Anderson County man was seriously injured Thursday night when he was pushed out of his barn loft by a pair of alleged burglars.
Jack Archer, 55, spent Thursday night lying in the rain and the cold after the incident, which he says happened shortly before midnight on Thursday at a barn off of Norris Freeway in Heiskell.
He told investigators that he had spotted people near his barn Thursday night and drove his farm tractor to the barn. He said that instead of walking through the door, he tried to surprise the burglars by using the forklift on his tractor to enter the barn through the loft.
However, when he made it inside the barn, he was struck from behind, then thrown off the barn loft, falling some 20 feet onto concrete. He suffered two broken ankles and a broken back in the fall and was unable to move the rest of the night, which was a rainy one.
Early the next morning, his neighbor reported hearing moaning from the barn, and when she went to investigate the sound, found Archer in pain, cold and wet, lying on the floor. He was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment of his injuries and was listed in stable condition there as of Monday afternoon.
Archer told investigators that he must have passed out from the pain because the last thing he remembers is the two men standing over him wondering if he was dead. He recognized one of his assailants, and deputies arrested 31-year-old Dustin Alex Martin of Clinton on charges of aggravated assault and especially aggravated burglary. Archer is in custody at the Anderson County Jail, and authorities are still looking for the second suspect.
Information in this story brought to you through an agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website at http://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.
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