No one was injured when a car crashed into an Oak Ridge school bus on Thursday, police said.
The two-vehicle crash was reported at about 6:55 a.m. Thursday in the eastbound lanes of Oak Ridge Turnpike at Salem Road.
School bus #64 was struck on the driver’s side near the rear axle by a car pulling out onto the Turnpike from Salem Road, the Oak Ridge Police Department said. [Read more…]
Law enforcement officials believe that a 64-year-old man removed his wife from a mobile home fire in Anderson County on Wednesday evening and died trying to rescue his special needs sister-in-law, who also died in the fire.
The fire was reported at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on Scott Brogan Lane, which is off Old Lake City Highway south of Rocky Top.
The mobile home was engulfed in flames when rescue personnel arrived, and victims were trapped in the home, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.
The woman who was removed is Marianne Gremillion, said Tyler Mayes, director of administrative services for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. She was flown by a medical helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville after the Wednesday evening fire. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has identified the man who died in a Monday night officer-involved shooting at Anderson County General Sessions Court on Emory Valley Road as Isaiah D. Ramirez, 26. Above, police investigate after a chase was reported along Emory Valley Road and there were reports of shots fired on Monday evening, Oct. 8, 2018. The parking lot at Anderson County General Sessions Court on Emory Valley Road was blocked off with yellow tape, and there was a large emergency response presence that included members of the Oak Ridge Police Department, Oak Ridge Fire Department, Anderson County EMS, and District Attorney General Dave Clark, right. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m. Feb. 16.
An Oak Ridge police officer was legally entitled to use lethal force against a man who was driving toward the officer when he was struck by two bullets after a police chase in October, Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said Thursday.
The shooting in the parking lot of the county courthouse and county offices on Emory Valley on October 8 killed Isaiah D. Ramirez, 36. The shooting was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is common in shootings that involve police officers. The case was assigned to TBI Agent Denise Woodby.
On Thursday, Clark announced that the investigation of the officer-involved shooting is complete. The investigation included a team of forensic scientists from the TBI Knoxville Violent Crime Response Team and forensic crime scene truck the day of the shooting, officer and witness statements, photographs and video recordings, laboratory testing and an autopsy, and evaluation of the crime scene and other observations, Clark said.
“Based upon the totality of the circumstances, Officer Nathan Gibson had a reasonable basis to believe at the time that the suspect, Isaiah Ramirez, posed a threat of death or serious bodily injury to him (Gibson),” Clark said in a press release. “Gibson met the requirement multiple times of verbally ordering Ramirez to stop. Thus, Gibson was legally entitled to use lethal force against Isaiah Ramirez. While gunshots were the immediate cause of Ramirez’s death, it was Ramirez’s own decisions and conduct that were responsible for his death. No criminal charges would be legal or appropriate against Officer Nathan Gibson.”
The results of the investigation were sent to Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith. Among the findings, according to Clark: Ramirez, who had warrants for his arrest, fled from police in a pickup truck on Cumberland View Drive and forced two officers to jump out of his way to avoid being struck and narrowly missed another; drove around police trying to stop him and did not comply with verbal orders to stop, including from an officer who had his firearm drawn, or with police lights and sirens in a residential area and then down Emory Valley Road; and drove toward Gibson, who was standing with his weapon pointed at Gibson in the parking lot of the county courthouse and offices on Emory Valley Road. [Read more…]
Two people died in a fire in Anderson County Wednesday evening, and one person is in a critical care unit, authorities said.
The fire was reported at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on Scott Brogan Lane, which is off Old Lake City Highway south of Rocky Top.
The house was engulfed in flames when rescue personnel arrived, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.
One person was flown by a medical helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and is in critical care there, said Tyler Mayes, director of administrative services for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. [Read more…]
No injuries were reported and a dog was rescued from a fire in an apartment building on Florida Avenue in late January, firefighters said. (Photo via City of Oak Ridge/Oak Ridge Fire Department)
No injuries were reported and a dog was rescued from a fire in an apartment building on Florida Avenue in late January, firefighters said.
The fire in a four-unit apartment building was reported at about 9:43 p.m. Thursday, January 31, the Oak Ridge Fire Department said.
The first firefighting unit was at the building within minutes and found heavy fire and smoke coming from the building, the ORFD said. [Read more…]
A Clinton man was charged with two counts of homicide and one count of driving under the influence after a fatal two-vehicle crash on Clinton Highway on Friday, authorities said.
The two felony homicide counts filed against Timothy James Gribble, 36, are vehicular homicide by intoxication and vehicular homicide by recklessness, according to Anderson County court records.
His DUI, a misdemeanor, is an alleged second offense, according to court records.
The two-vehicle crash was reported at about 5:27 p.m. Friday at the Clinton Highway intersection with Shepherd Lane, according to a fatality report by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
The head-on collision killed Robert J. West, 64, of Harriman, the THP report said. [Read more…]
Image by Clinton Police Department
Clinton Police Department officers arrested a Lee’s Travel Center clerk and another man in connection with the report of an aggravated robbery of the convenience store on February 5, the CPD said in a post published on Facebook.
Reports said Justin Pennington was working at the store at 2233 North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard in Clinton when a masked man pulled out a knife and told him to open the cash register or he would stab him, the CPD said.
Clinton Police Department Investigator Sergeant Scott Gregory, after reviewing store surveillance and gathering more information, discovered that the masked man, who was identified as Jacob T. Maiden, took money from the cash register and then placed two bags of suspected narcotics on the counter and left the scene, the CPD said. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
No one was injured, but a house on Patt Lane in Claxton was said to be a total loss after a fire on Saturday night.
An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy responded to the scene and reported that the entire roof of the home was engulfed by flames and that the fire was rapidly spreading to the second floor of the structure. He also discovered the homeowner attempting to fight the fire with a water hose, and the tenant—the owner’s son—removing personal items from the burning home. Deputy Tyler Culver reported that he had to remove the younger man from the house twice as he tried to save items even as the fire spread.
Despite the best efforts of firefighters from the Claxton Volunteer Fire Department and Rural Metro, all that was left standing of the home was a pair of brick chimneys. Firefighters said that the blaze appeared to have begun in the attic, and the tenant told deputies that neither fireplace was in use at the time of the fire, and that due to ongoing renovations, he had been using electric and propane heaters as his primary heat sources. Firefighters found no traces of any accelerant or any other evidence of arson, but the exact cause of the fire is under investigation.
The homeowner did not have insurance on the property. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge dispatchers and emergency workers switched to a new radio system last week that uses encrypted communications, and access is restricted to public safety employees.
That means that people who have listened to Oak Ridge police and fire communications, among other radio transmissions, on scanners and scanner apps but aren’t public safety employees such as police officers or firefighters will no longer be able to listen. That includes reporters.
“For the safety of our officers, the Police Department does not have any plans at this time to allow access to the radio system beyond public safety employees,” City of Oak Ridge spokesperson Sarah Self said in a brief statement Tuesday, January 29.
The switch was apparently made at about 1 p.m. Monday, January 28. Oak Ridge Today has not heard Oak Ridge dispatchers on the radio since then.
Oak Ridge Today asked what steps the city will take to ensure that people continue to stay informed at least about major police and fire incidents since reporters and the public will no longer be able to listen to emergency communications. [Read more…]
Sarah Graham McGee
Mental illness and capital punishment will be discussed during a lunch in Oak Ridge on Tuesday.
The speaker will be Sarah Graham McGee, statewide coordinator for the Tennessee Alliance for the Severe Mental Illness Exclusion, or TASMIE, a press release said. TASMIE is a coalition of mental health advocates and other organizations that are educating Tennesseans about their concerns with sentencing those who have severe mental illness to death, the press release said.
The program is for Lunch with the League on Tuesday, February 5. The meeting is scheduled from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of a criminal case filed against Lee Harold Cromwell, who is now 69 and was convicted of reckless vehicular homicide in Anderson County Criminal Court two years ago after a fatal crash after fireworks in Oak Ridge in 2015. Cromwell is pictured above during a hearing in a Nashville criminal court on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in a separate case involving 28 counts of forgery and filling fraudulent liens. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Tennessee Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of the criminal case filed against Lee Harold Cromwell, who was convicted of homicide after a fatal crash after fireworks in Oak Ridge in 2015.
Cromwell, who is now 69, had been convicted of reckless vehicular homicide and aggravated assault in Anderson County Criminal Court at the end of a three-day trial in February 2017.
But in July 2018, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville said Cromwell is eligible for a new trial on the aggravated assault charges. The court cited misleading and confusing jury instructions. The aggravated assault convictions, which were reversed by the appeals court, had helped to add seven years to Cromwell’s sentence.
The court upheld Cromwell’s one conviction of reckless vehicular homicide and his five-year sentence on that charge.
In August, Cromwell appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Police Department has rescheduled the Neighborhood Watch Program Banquet that had been scheduled for Tuesday.
The banquet has been rescheduled due to weather, the ORPD said in a post published on Twitter.
It is now scheduled for 6 p.m. February 12 at Central Baptist Church. [Read more…]
