One driver was possibly injured and cited for a failure to use due care after this three-vehicle crash on Edgemoor Road on Friday afternoon left one vehicle partially stuck on the concrete rail of the bridge over the Clinch River. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Thirteen people in eight vehicles were involved in two of the three crashes reported on Edgemoor Road on Thursday and Friday last week.
But only one person had possible injuries in those two crashes, according to Oak Ridge Police Department reports.
The first crash, a five-vehicle wreck, was reported on Edgemoor Road about two-tenths of a mile west of Lakeview Circle at about 5:39 p.m. Thursday, August 13. None of the 10 occupants of the five vehicles was injured, according to reports.
ORPD Officer Shane Tilley reported that a 1991 Chevrolet pickup driven west on Edgemoor Road, also known as State Route 170, by Jeremy P. Bentley, 46, of Knoxville, was unable to stop when traffic stopped in front of him.
Bentley then struck the rear of a 2014 Dodge pickup driven by Charles E. Dishman, 35, of Clinton, which in turn hit the rear of a 2012 Hyundai sedan driven by William M. Cunningham of Maryville. Cunningham’s sedan then hit the rear of a 2008 Nissan Altima driven by Chong Kim, 74, of Knoxville, which hit the rear of a 2009 Nissan Altima driven by Deena A. Chase, 48, of Knoxville.
All the drivers and passengers were using shoulder and lap belts, according to Tilley’s report.
The second crash was reported at about 1:48 p.m. Friday, August 14, on the Edgemoor Road bridge over the Clinch River, between Oak Ridge and Claxton. It left the right rear end of one vehicle, a 2006 Honda CRV, partially stuck on the bridge rail.
ORPD Officer Christopher Wallace said that crash occurred when a 2006 Dodge minivan driven by Tonya E. Warwick, 51, of Oak Ridge, allegedly crossed the center line while traveling west on the bridge, according to the driver of the second vehicle.
Loisanne Chitwood, 65, of Farragut, the driver of the second vehicle, said she swerved right to avoid being hit, but Warwick collided with the left rear end of her 1997 Honda Civic, according to the ORPD report.
Then, after Warwick hit Chitwood, Wallace said, she struck a third vehicle head-on, resulting in disabling damage to both vehicles. That third vehicle, a 2006 Honda CRV compact utility, was driven by Erinn Marie Dent, 29, of Powell.
Wallace said that Warwick alleged that Dent’s CRV entered her lane of travel.
“However, from individuals on scene and from the resting places of the vehicles, this account would be inaccurate,” he said.
Warwick has possible injuries and was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge. She was cited for a failure to use due care and caution, a city violation, according to the ORPD report.
The report said all three drivers were using shoulder and lap belts.
Oak Ridge Today has requested information on the third crash, which was reported Friday evening on Edgemoor Road near New Henderson Road in the Claxton community in Anderson County, a short drive east of the Clinch River bridge.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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