Oak Ridge Today

Updated: One person dies in crash in west Oak Ridge

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Note: This story was updated at 11 a.m. May 1.

A female driver died in a crash in west Oak Ridge on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The two-vehicle crash was reported at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the westbound lanes of Oak Ridge Turnpike just east of Nebraska Avenue, at Newport Drive. It involved a maroon sedan and a white pickup truck. The sedan had come to a stop heading south on Newport Drive onto Oak Ridge Turnpike, while the pickup truck was in the westbound lanes with its front end turned into the grassy center median.

The cause is not known yet. A specialist who can reconstruct the crash was investigating, Oak Ridge Police Department Lieutenant Matt Tedford said Tuesday afternoon.

The female’s body was taken for an autopsy by the Roane County medical examiner, Tedford said.

[Read more…]

Driver identified in fatal crash at Bull Run Creek

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The driver has been identified in a fatal single-vehicle crash into Bull Run Creek in Claxton on Thursday night, April 18, 2019. The Toyota Highlander sport utility vehicle, which had been submerged, was pulled from the water at about midnight. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 3:40 p.m.

The driver has been identified in a fatal single-vehicle crash into Bull Run Creek in Claxton on Thursday night.

The driver, Douglas A. Batson, 66, of Knoxville, was traveling west in a 2007 Toyota Highlander sport utility vehicle on New Henderson Road at about 9:20 p.m. Thursday when he turned on his signal to make a right turn, according to rescuers and a fatality report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Batson drove off the right side of the road, the report said.

“The vehicle then struck some wooden pylons and then went into the river and then sank to the bottom,” the report said.

[Read more…]

One dead in crash into Bull Run Creek

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Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 a.m.

CLAXTON–One person is confirmed dead after a vehicle crashed into Bull Run Creek in Claxton on Thursday night.

The crash was reported to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department on a straight stretch of New Henderson Road near Bull Run Park at about 9:19 p.m. Thursday.

The body of the man who died in the crash was removed from the water, but the vehicle remained submerged for several more hours until a dive team located it and a tow truck pulled it out at about midnight. The man is believed to have been alone in the vehicle, which appeared to be a silver sport utility vehicle.

[Read more…]

For members: Driver in fatal crash receives 12-year sentence

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Scott-Gray-Hearing-Aug-11-2016
Scott Gray, who has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide by intoxication, is pictured above during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division I, in Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The driver in a fatal two-vehicle crash on Clinton Highway in April 2016 has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide by intoxication and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and he received a 12-year sentence.

The defendant, Scott Allen Gray, 29, served more than the statutory minimum of 45 days before his plea agreement—he served about one year and one month in the Anderson County jail—and the rest of his 12-year sentence was suspended, to be served on intensive probation, according to Anderson County court records.

Scott-Gray-Hearing-Aug-11-2016

The driver in a fatal two-vehicle crash on Clinton Highway in April 2016 has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide by intoxication and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and he received a 12-year sentence.

The defendant served more than the statutory minimum of 45 days before his plea agreement—he served about one year and one month in the Anderson County jail—and the rest of his 12-year sentence was suspended, to be served on intensive probation, among other conditions, according to Anderson County court records.

The crash three years ago killed a 23-year-old Heiskell woman.

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Lawsuit seeks up to $5 million in fatal truck-lawn mower crash

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A wrongful death lawsuit filed in Anderson County in December seeks up to $5 million in damages from the driver of a pickup truck who struck a man riding a commercial lawn mower on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge in September.

The driver of the lawn mower, Danny Palmer, 75, of Oak Ridge, died after the crash.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Palmer in Anderson County Circuit Court in Clinton on December 5 by his wife, Barbara Palmer, who is represented by attorney Bruce D. Fox of Clinton.

The crash between the commercial mower being operated by Palmer and the GMC pickup truck was reported near Summit Place on South Illinois Avenue at about 2 p.m. Thursday, September 13. Preliminary findings indicated that the pickup truck hit the mower, which was in the roadway at the time of the crash, according to the Oak Ridge Police Department. Palmer died of his injuries, the ORPD said. [Read more…]

Trial set for man charged with vehicular homicide in death of 3-year-old

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A plea agreement has not been reached, and trial dates were set during a plea agreement hearing for Jason Robert Braden, center, in Anderson County Circuit Court on Friday, March 29, 2019. At left is defense attorney David Stuart, who represents Braden in a vehicular homicide case from a crash that killed a three-year-old boy in Oak Ridge in January 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A plea agreement has not been reached, and trial dates were set during a plea agreement hearing for Jason Robert Braden II, center, in Anderson County Circuit Court on Friday, March 29, 2019. At left is defense attorney David Stuart, who represents Braden in the vehicular homicide case from a crash that killed a three-year-old boy in Oak Ridge in January 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—Prosecutors and the defense have not been able to reach an agreement on a plea deal, so a two-day trial has been set for Jason Robert Braden II, the 25-year-old Anderson County man charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, among other charges, in the death of a three-year-old boy, Jason Robert Braden III, in a crash in Oak Ridge in January 2017.

Braden had two plea agreement hearings scheduled in Anderson County Circuit Court in Clinton last month, one on Friday, March 1, and the other on Friday, March 29. But no agreement was announced during either hearing. The date was rescheduled during the March 1 hearing, and on Friday, defense attorney David Stuart said the defense and the state wouldn’t be able to reach an agreement.

At the start of Friday’s hearing, Stuart said an issue had come up. Braden had requested copies of the discovery, potential evidence that could be used at trial, so copies were made and delivered to the jail, Stuart said. But they went to the wrong Jason Braden, and Jason Robert Braden thinks that’s an ethics breach, Stuart said.

Stuart said he would have to self-report the breach if he thought he had done something wrong. Other legal officials, such as the judge and district attorney general, would also have to report him if they thought he had done something wrong, Stuart said. [Read more…]

Man seriously injured in motorcycle crash

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A man was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash on East Tennessee Avenue on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, authorities said. (Photo via City of Oak Ridge)

A man was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash on East Tennessee Avenue on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, authorities said. (Photo via City of Oak Ridge)

 

A man was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash on East Tennessee Avenue on Tuesday, authorities said.

The crash was reported at the intersection with California Avenue at about 8:25 p.m. Tuesday, March 12.

The Oak Ridge police and fire departments responded. Witnesses told first responders that a man lost control of the motorcycle he was riding before it crashed into a parked car on the side of the street, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release. [Read more…]

No injuries reported when car crashes into school bus

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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…]

Man charged with homicide in fatal Clinton Highway crash

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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…]

Updated: Oliver Springs resident dies in collision with truck

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Note: This story was updated at 11:15 a.m. Jan. 22.

Information from WYSH Radio

A head-on collision involving a tractor-trailer in Oliver Springs on Sunday night killed one person and shut down Highway 61 leading into Oliver Springs for about 22 hours while crews cleaned up debris.

The Oliver Springs Police Department said that the fatal crash happened when a tractor-trailer dump truck was struck head-on by a car that crossed over the center line. The collision sent the tractor-trailer off the road and down an embankment, where it overturned and spilled diesel fuel and its cargo of sand. [Read more…]

Homicide case ends when defendant dies

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Christy-Duncan-Memorial-Oak-Ridge-Turnpike-May-10-2016

A vehicular homicide case that started with a fatal traffic crash at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Jefferson Avenue in May 2016 ended when the defendant, Vickie Gay Gilmore, died in 2018. A memorial to Christy Duncan, the woman who died in the three-vehicle crash, was set up on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A vehicular homicide case that started with a fatal traffic crash in Oak Ridge ended when the defendant died.

The case against Vickie Gay Gilmore, 64, had been pending in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. In July, another evaluation was ordered at the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga. Gilmore was to be evaluated for her competency to stand trial and her mental condition at the time of the crime (the insanity defense). She had been found to be capable of adequately helping in her defense in an earlier evaluation at Moccasin Bend in 2016, but a later evaluation by a doctor produced contrary findings, according to an April 2018 order for a new competency evaluation.

The new evaluation order in July was stayed, or delayed, in September because of Gilmore’s deteriorating health and her inability to travel.

The charges against her were dismissed in a judgement dated October 9 and filed in November. [Read more…]

Woman dies in crash in Anderson County

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A 34-year-old woman died in a two-vehicle crash on East Wolf Valley Road in Anderson County on Tuesday morning, state troopers said.

The crash was reported at about 10:41 a.m. Tuesday, January 1, at the intersection with Crisman Road, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said in a fatality report.

Jenna McCue, 34, was driving a 2007 Toyota Corolla car east on East Wolf Valley Road when she lost control going around a curve at Crisman Road, the THP report said. McCue overcorrected, entered the westbound lane, and hit a 2018 Dodge Ram pickup driven west by Dennis R. Irwin, 65, the report said. [Read more…]