A 72-year-old Knoxville man died in a single-vehicle crash on Clinton Highway in Anderson County on Tuesday, authorities said.
Harvey R. Weldon was driving north in a 2009 Ford Focus on Clinton Highway near Lonesome Dove Road at about 6:36 p.m. Tuesday, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said in a preliminary report.
“While negotiating a curve to the left, the vehicle traveled off the east side of the roadway, entered a ditch, and struck a culvert,” the report said. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Police Department has identified the two drivers in a fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue on Sunday evening.
The motorcycle was operated by Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge, authorities said. The car was driven by Noelle L. Patty, 29, also of Oak Ridge.
The Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle was northbound on North Illinois Avenue when it collided with the car, a Cadillac STS, at the western entrance to the Westcott Center, the Kroger shopping center, at about 5:40 p.m. Sunday, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release.
Shephard died from his injuries, the release said. [Read more…]
Authorities said a motorcyclist died in a collision with a car on North Illinois Avenue at the western entrance to the Kroger shopping center at about 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016. Above, the Oak Ridge Police Department and Clinton Police Department reconstruct the crash. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 11:23 p.m.
A motorcyclist died in a collision with a car on North Illinois Avenue on Sunday evening, authorities said.
The collision between a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and Cadillac STS four-door sedan was reported at about 6 p.m. Sunday, Oak Ridge Police Department Deputy Chief Robin Smith said.
Smith said he didn’t immediately have details on whether the driver of the car was injured.
The crash occurred on North Illinois Avenue between Oak Ridge Turnpike and Ivanhoe Road, at the western entrance to Westcott Center, the Kroger shopping center.
[Read more…]
Oak Ridge Police Department Lt. John Kelly, left, and Clinton Police Department Officer Max Smith reconstruct a car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue at the western entrance to Kroger on Sunday evening, Jan. 31, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 11 p.m.
A short stretch of North Illinois Avenue is closed north of Oak Ridge Turnpike, at the western entrance to Kroger, as police investigate a Sunday evening crash between a car and a motorcycle.
The closure was reported at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The closure affects both the northbound and southbound lanes between Oak Ridge Turnpike and Ivanhoe Road.
The crash involved a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and a Cadillac STS four-door sedan. [Read more…]
Michael Benanti
KNOXVILLE—A second suspect has also pleaded not guilty to three alleged bank extortion and carjacking plots that involved bank employees and their family members, including at Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge.
One of the suspects, Brian Witham, pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Tuesday.
The second suspect, Michael Benanti, pleaded not guilty during a Friday afternoon arraignment.
Each man is facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 142 years in prison, if they are convicted on all 15 federal charges that they face. The charges include bank extortion, attempted bank extortion, carjacking, and brandishing a firearm while committing a crime. [Read more…]
Roads in Oak Ridge are becoming slipperier as snow continues to accumulate. Above, an Oak Ridge snow plow is pictured at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Administration Road on Wednesday morning, Jan. 20, 2016. Heavy snow continued to fall more than 1.5 hours later. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The most significant issue during the snow and winter weather last week was the closure of Interstate 75 in Campbell County, which caused a long traffic jam on Wednesday, January 20, authorities said.
Traffic was very light Friday evening when the snow started again as most everyone stayed home, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said.
“As an update on our weather-related calls, from Wednesday, January 20, through Sunday, January 24, we responded to 18 non-injury traffic crashes, two crashes with injury, 12 disabled or abandoned vehicles, and five calls where there were some traffic hazards,” Lucas said. “There were a number of cars in the ditch or that ran off the road where we did not respond due to weather conditions.” [Read more…]
Denny Hughett
COOKEVILLE—In two separate cases, special agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have obtained indictments for a total of five people in connection to allegations of the mistreatment of inmates in the Morgan County Jail.
In the first case, which began November 24, 2015, at the request of Ninth District Attorney General Russell Johnson, TBI agents investigated an allegation of official misconduct by correction officers in the Morgan County Jail. The allegation, brought by an inmate’s family, accused officers of encouraging the assault of an inmate on November 21, 2015, in the presence of correction officers, who were also accused of not intervening in the incident.
On Monday, the Morgan County Grand Jury returned indictments, charging Correction Officer Denny Hughett, 31, of Wartburg, with two counts of official misconduct and one count of coercion of a witness. The Grand Jury also returned an indictment for an inmate, charging Samuel Jennings, 39, with one count of aggravated assault. [Read more…]
A Knoxville woman died and two Andersonville women were injured in a Tuesday morning crash on Norris Freeway at Pedigo Road in north Knox County, authorities said.
The woman who died has been identified as Nellie Gunter, 70, of Knoxville, according to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.
The KCSO said Gunter was driving north on Norris Freeway in a Nissan Versa when she lost control of her car due to the wet road and hit a Buick LeSabre, which was going south. Gunter died at the scene, authorities said.
The Buick was driven by Alice Overdyk, 67, of Andersonville. She and her passenger, Susan Moses, 58, also of Andersonville, were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville by Rural Metro. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to a kidnapping and attempted robbery at the Y-12 Federal Credit Union on Lafayette Drive in Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning, April 28, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 4:10 p.m.
KNOXVILLE—One of the two suspects in three alleged bank extortion and carjacking plots that involved bank employees and their family members, including at Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, is facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 142 years in prison, if he is convicted on all 15 charges that he faces, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.
Brian Witham pleaded not guilty to the 15 charges—which include bank extortion, attempted bank extortion, carjacking, and brandishing a firearm while committing a crime—during a 20-minute arraignment and initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Tuesday afternoon.
Brian Witham (Photo courtesy WATE-TV in Knoxville)
A trial has been set for March 29.
Witham’s alleged co-conspirator, Michael Benanti, has an initial appearance and arraignment scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday.
The two were indicted by a federal grand jury on December 15 for plots that involved kidnapping family members and robbing or attempting to rob three banks and credit unions in Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Elizabethton, Tennessee. Benanti, 43, is from Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania, and Witham, 45, is from Waterville, Maine. [Read more…]
Matthew R. Gibson
Note: This story was updated at 2:35 p.m. Jan. 25.
A 72-year-old Oak Ridge man has been charged with reckless aggravated assault after he allegedly drove at high speed in a pickup truck on a residential street, ignored a stop sign, and collided with a sport utility vehicle, causing it to roll and seriously injuring two people inside, authorities said.
Matthew R. Gibson, of South Purdue Avenue, was also cited for not having his driver’s license and for a stop sign violation.
His bond on the reckless aggravated assault charge was set at $20,000, and he remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Sunday morning.
The two-vehicle crash was reported at about 2:45 p.m. Saturday, January 16, at the intersection of Manhattan and North Purdue avenues in the Woodland neighborhood, behind Food City. [Read more…]
Melanie Coley
Note: This story was last updated at 3:10 p.m.
The Loudon County woman who was reported missing on Friday and last seen at Bad Daddy’s Burger in Turkey Creek on Thursday has been found, and she is the apparent victim of a fatal single-vehicle crash, authorities said.
Melanie Coley, 29,was found ejected from her wrecked 2014 Dodge Avenger on Saturday morning in the 1400 block of Sugar Limb Road in Loudon County, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said.
She had last been seen around 10:45 p.m. Thursday at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, located at 11863 Parkside Drive in Farragut. The Primrose School of Farragut had identified Coley as a preschool teacher there.
Tennessee Highway Patrol discovered the crash after coordinating with KCSO Major Crimes detectives to investigate Coley’s travel routes and patterns. The area had previously been checked by public safety personnel, but the vehicle was off the road and not visible to passing traffic, authorities said.
It appears as though Coley was on her way home when the crash occurred, the KCSO said. The Loudon County Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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A mail carrier was shaken up but not injured when a tree fell on her delivery truck in west Oak Ridge on Friday morning, Jan. 22, 2016, officials said. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A mail carrier was shaken up but not injured when a large tree fell on her delivery truck in west Oak Ridge on Friday morning, officials said.
The mail carrier was in her vehicle delivering mail on Mohawk Road when the tree fell on it at about 10:10 a.m. Friday, said David Walton, spokesman for the Tennessee district of the United States Postal Service.
The carrier was able to get out of the vehicle, but the tree had to be cut before the truck could be moved, Walton said.
The delivery vehicle was towed back to the Post Office, where the mail was unloaded onto another vehicle. Another carrier then finished the route. [Read more…]
