Oak Ridge Today

AC woman arrested in Knoxville assault

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Information from WYSH Radio

An Andersonville woman has been arrested and charged in an attack that critically injured another woman at a North Knoxville motel this week, according to the Knoxville Police Department.

Denise Henry, 38, was arrested Wednesday night at a home on Strawberry Plains Pike and is being held on a $30,000 bond on a charge of aggravated assault for allegedly beating a woman outside America’s Best Value Inn and Suites on Merchant Drive.

KPD officers found 36-year-old Diana Trent unresponsive with severe head trauma about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Trent was rushed to UT Medical Center, where she underwent emergency surgery.

New Lifestar air medical base in Rockwood will serve Roane County

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UT Lifestar Helicopter

A UT Lifestar helicopter (N135UT), pictured in the forefront, will be servicing Roane County. (Photo by University of Tennessee Medical Center)

 

A new Lifestar air medical base in Rockwood will serve Roane County, the University of Tennessee Medical Center announced Friday.

UT Lifestar Aeromedical Services plans to open the base later in the summer at the Rockwood Municipal Airport.

Last month, Lifestar reached an agreement with Air Evac EMS Inc. to assume responsibility for medical operations of the Air Evac Lifeteam located in Etowah, Tennessee, a press release said. Lifestar also operates a facility in Sweetwater. The Rockwood base will be staffed by one of the teams from the Etowah/Sweetwater facilities. Services in the Etowah/Sweetwater area remain in operation as usual, the release said.

“Lifestar is pleased to have the opportunity to move to the Roane County region,” said Jeff Gregory, Lifestar director. “Being located in this area will allow us to provide faster aeromedical services to the citizens and visitors in this region.” [Read more…]

Council approves $22K ORPD review, could be complete in October

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Oak Ridge Police Department Cars

Note: This story was last updated at 9:58 a.m. May 22.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Thursday approved a review of turnover and morale in the Oak Ridge Police Department that could cost close to $23,000 and not be complete until October.

The review by the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee could include interviews with about 125 people, including roughly 76 current ORPD employees as well as several dozen former workers who have left in the roughly four years since Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi started.

The review, which will also study administrative policies, was initially expected to be free, last 30 days, and use interviews with a random pool of workers. But the City Council expanded the scope of the inquiry during a special meeting in April, and MTAS said it would now have to charge $50 per hour for the work.

Each of the MTAS interviews could take about one hour, city officials said during a special Oak Ridge City Council meeting on Thursday. [Read more…]

Pilot robbery suspect arrested in Rocky Top

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Walter John Meachum

Walter John Meachum

A Caryville man suspected of robbing a Pilot Travel Center in east Knox County on Tuesday was arrested at a motel in Rocky Top in Anderson County on Wednesday, authorities said.

They said Walter John Meachum, 21, has been charged with aggravated robbery for an alleged armed robbery just before 2 a.m. Tuesday at the Pilot Travel Center at 1915 East Raccoon Valley Road in Knox County.

On Tuesday, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said the suspect was armed with a black and silver weapon, according to the initial investigation. Authorities said the suspect fled west on Raccoon Valley Road in a silver convertible with a black top after receiving an undisclosed amount of money from the business. He was described as wearing a skull mask, black hooded jacket, white shirt, and blue jeans at the time of the robbery.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office said Meachum was arrested early Wednesday morning at the Scottish Inn in Rocky Top by its Major Crimes Unit in conjunction with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, and Rocky Top Police Department. As of Wednesday, Meachum was being held at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility on a $20,000 bond. [Read more…]

Driver airlifted to hospital after crashing through guardrail, into rock embankment

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Chevrolet Cavalier Crash at Highway 95

The driver of this Chevrolet Cavalier was flown by a medical helicopter to a hospital after apparently crashing through a guardrail and into a rock embankment, right, below a DOE haul road on Highway 95 in west Oak Ridge on Wednesday afternoon.

 

A car driver was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital after crashing through a guardrail and into a rock embankment below a U.S. Department of Energy haul road that crosses over Highway 95 in west Oak Ridge on Wednesday afternoon.

The name and condition of the driver weren’t immediately available after the one-vehicle, one-person crash. The collision occurred in a curvy section of Highway 95 near the western entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex on Bear Creek Road.

The haul road is used to move debris from the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility west of Y-12. [Read more…]

MTAS review of ORPD could cost $26,200

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Oak Ridge Police Department Cars

Note: This story was last updated at 12:08 p.m.

A review of the Oak Ridge Police Department by a University of Tennessee agency could cost $26,200.

The Oak Ridge City Council has asked the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at UT to review the ORPD, with a particular focus on turnover, morale, and administrative policies.

The initial 30-day review approved during a March 27 special meeting was going to be free. But an uproar ensued after the initial list of employees to be interviewed was sent to the police chief, city manager, and all Police Department employees, raising concerns about the confidentiality and impartiality of the review.

The City Council then expanded the scope of the inquiry. During an April 21 special meeting, members asked MTAS to interview all ORPD employees and try to interview former workers who have left in the roughly four years since Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi started. [Read more…]

Anderson County park manager assaulted at park

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident that occurred last week at Anderson County Park.

The park manager, Paul Schilling, called deputies on Sunday, May 10, and told them that at around 9:30 p.m., he confronted a group of six people who were throwing rocks toward the public swimming area at the park and jumping on and off picnic tables.

When he told them to stop, Schilling said that one of the men punched him in the nose and another hit him from behind. While he escaped serious injury, Schilling did tell deputies that his glasses were broken in the assault.

One of the people also grabbed Schilling’s county-issued cell phone as he tried to take pictures of the suspects’ vehicles and license plates and smashed it on the ground.

Saturday morning fire damages Cove Lane home

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Cove Lane Fire

Photo by Tom Scott

 

A fire just after midnight Saturday caused heavy damage to a home on Cove Lane north of Oliver Springs.

The fire was reported at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday, May 16, at 1014 Cove Lane, fire photographer Tom Scott said.

The home is in the Marlow Volunteer Fire Department area about 500 feet outside the Oliver Springs city limits, Scott said. [Read more…]

ACSD investigating robbery

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a report of an armed robbery that occurred late Wednesday night near Rocky Top.

The victim, Jacob Fry, called deputies just after midnight Thursday and told them that he had been assaulted and robbed by three people, two of whom he knew. Fry said that a man he knew called him at around 10 p.m. and asked if he wanted to play basketball, and Fry agreed.

A short time later, the man and a woman—whom he also knew—picked him up, and the three drove to the Pine Hill community park in Rocky Top. Fry later told deputies that he thought that the woman had been acting strangely on the ride.

When they reached the park, the man said he was going to call another man to play ball with them, and while Fry stood outside the truck smoking, he said he heard the man tell his friend that they “were just outside and to come out and meet them.” [Read more…]

Heroes of the Day: Officers, bystander rescue woman by flipping EVC van after crash

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Cassen Garrison and Brandan Sharp at Emory Valley Center Van Crash

With help from a bystander and another officer, Oak Ridge Police Department officers Cassen Garrison, left, and Brandan Sharp lifted this white Emory Valley Center van off its passenger side after a Tuesday morning crash at Northwestern and North Purdue avenues in Woodland. A female passenger, who was reported to be partially pinned underneath the van, was flown to a hospital by a Lifestar medical helicopter.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4:28 p.m.

Neighbors called them the heroes of the day. Three Oak Ridge Police Department officers and at least one bystander lifted an Emory Valley Center van off of a woman who was partially pinned underneath it after a crash in Woodland on Tuesday morning.

Witnesses said the right arm and shoulder of the female passenger were pinned underneath the passenger side of the van after the crash, which was reported at about 10 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Northwestern and North Purdue avenues.

The three officers were identified as Cassen Garrison, Brandan Sharp, and Sergeant Pete Nance. Garrison’s right arm was bandaged. Witnesses said he used his hands to break out a back window of the Chevrolet Express van and rescue a male EVC client in the back of the van.

The female passenger, who was partially ejected, was flown to a hospital by a University of Tennessee Lifestar medical helicopter after it landed at the nearby Oak Ridge City Center. Three others were also reportedly taken to the hospital.

Ed Taylor, who lives at the Manhattan Apartments, also helped lift the van. Witnesses said other neighbors helped as well. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Police Department Junior Police Academy registration opens

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The Fourth Annual Junior Police Academy is being offered again by the Oak Ridge Police Department.

This year, the ORPD will offer one academy for the Junior Class, designed specifically for middle and high school students from June 22-26. Registration is also open to rising fifth-graders to middle school. The ORPD is also offering a Senior Class for former JPA graduates only. The Senior Class offers advanced training and activities. The Senior Class is scheduled from July 6-10.

JPA cadets will be given presentations by several Oak Ridge Police Department officers on topics that include K9 and SWAT operations, traffic stops, and much more, a press release said. Cadets will also visit the prestigious Law Enforcement Innovation Center, Anderson County Detention Facility, and Oak Ridge Police Department, and they will be given a presentation by the Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention, in reference to substance abuse through awareness, and education. [Read more…]

Total reported crimes down 18 percent in Oak Ridge

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There was an overall 18 percent drop in reported crimes in Oak Ridge in 2014, officials said Thursday.

The annual numbers, which compared 2014 to 2013, were released by the Oak Ridge Police Department and the City of Oak Ridge.

Anderson County released its annual crime statistics on Wednesday, and they showed crime was down in all of the county and its cities by 12 percent in 2014—and down by 42 percent over the last eight years.

The Oak Ridge numbers were generated by Oak Ridge Police Department Crime Analyst David Gordon in coordination with the Anderson County District Attorney General’s Office.

“The Police Department achieved reductions in crime from last year in many categories,” a City of Oak Ridge press release said. “However, some are of particular note and should be highlighted.

“Here is a quick summary of the attachment for 2014 crime stats (compared to 2013), with an approximate +/- factor of .5 percent, which includes those reductions which are most significant: [Read more…]