Report: Car runs red light, hits truck, which crashes into building

 

The driver of a four-door sedan allegedly ran a red light at Florida Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike last week and hit a pickup truck that then crashed into the side of a two-story commercial building, authorities said.

The driver of the car, Geary Q. McPeters, 59, of Oak Ridge, was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center with possible injuries, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.

ORPD Patrolman Kevin Merritt said McPeters was driving a 1996 Oldsmobile four-door sedan south on Florida Avenue at about 8:35 p.m. Friday, December 26, when he didn’t stop at a red traffic light on Oak Ridge Turnpike and collided with a 2012 Nissan pickup truck being driven east on the Turnpike by Ted M. Chapman, 73, of Sevierville.

McPeters’ car ended up in a culvert on the south side of Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Chapman’s truck went over a curb, through a parking lot on the south side of the Turnpike, and crashed into the side of the two-story building, which is owned by Richard Chinn of Oak Ridge, Merritt said.

Chapman was not injured and neither was his passenger Justin Isaiah Lawson, 24, who is also of Sevierville.

McPeters, whose vehicle was not insured, according to the report, was cited for driving on a suspended license, a red-light violation, and a violation of financial responsibility requirements.

McPeters, Chapman, and Lawson were all using shoulder and lap belts, the report said.