Oak Ridge Today

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.

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Dive team finds more human remains near underwater pickup

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Derek Funk Pickup

A truck pulled from the water in south Knoxville may have belonged to a missing local man, according to Knoxville police. (Photo courtesy WBIR-TV)

More human remains have been found by a dive team near a pickup truck found under water on Thursday and last seen being driven by a man missing since 2010, authorities said.

The Knoxville Police Department said the 1996 Ford Ranger pickup truck found upside down and under water on Thursday is the same vehicle last seen being driven by Derek Ryan Funk, 19, who has been missing since May 12, 2010.

Earlier Friday, a Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad dive team had reported finding human remains near the pickup truck in the 1400 block of Island Home Avenue in South Knoxville, although it wasn’t clear if the remains belonged to Funk. Funk went to Oak Ridge High School, and his parents live in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Pickup pulled from park, one of half-dozen vehicles found in Clinch River

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Melton Lake Park Pickup Truck

Authorities pull a Ford Ranger pickup truck from the Clinch River at Melton Lake Park on Tuesday morning, one of a half-dozen or so vehicles recently found in the water.

Authorities pulled a submerged pickup truck out of a cove used by rowers at Melton Lake Park on Tuesday morning, one of a half-dozen or so vehicles recently found in the Clinch River.

The pickup truck appeared to be a dark-colored mid-1980s Ford Ranger. It was coated in what appeared to be brown slime.

It wasn’t immediately clear what, if anything, was found inside.

Authorities have said little about the vehicles or the search for them, including how long the automobiles have been in the water, how they got there, or why officers are searching the Clinch River.

“We’ve got a pending investigation taking place, and we’re just not making any comment,” Oak Ridge Police Capt. Mike Uher said.

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Police say little, crime scene tape set up at Melton Lake Park

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Authorities would say little as they strung up crime scene tape at Melton Lake Park this morning. Two tow trucks have arrived at the park, where a dive team was seen searching this morning. More information will be added later.

Update: The crime scene tape was pulled down at about 11:05 a.m. Thursday after authorities pulled a submerged pickup truck from the Clinch River and a tow truck hauled it away.

Dive team searches water at Melton Lake Park

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Authorities pull bus from Clinch River, dive team continues search

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Bus in Melton Hill Lake

A tow truck pulls a bus from the Clinch River Monday afternoon. (Photo courtesy Austin Reed via Brad Jones)

A submerged bus was pulled out of the Clinch River near Pellissippi Parkway on Monday afternoon, but no one was on board, Oak Ridge Police Chief James T. Akagi said Tuesday.

Authorities, including an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department dive team, continued to search the water near Solway Park in Oak Ridge on Tuesday evening.

Akagi declined to release more details or comment on why the dive team was still there. He said he wasn’t able to answer some questions, such as how long the bus had been there, how it got there, or how authorities learned it was in the water.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Anderson County Sheriff's Department Dive Team

An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department dive team searches the Clinch River near Solway Park early Tuesday evening after a bus was pulled from the water on Monday afternoon.