Oak Ridge Today

Adults identified in crash that killed 3-year-old; cause not determined yet

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Oak Ridge Police Department officers started a memorial with stuffed animals on Saturday morning for a child killed in a fatal crash at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive on Friday evening, Jan. 13, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

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

The Oak Ridge Police Department has identified the adults injured in a fatal two-vehicle crash on Friday evening, although the cause hasn’t been determined yet.

The crash killed a three-year-old boy. It was reported at about 5:20 p.m. Friday at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive in central Oak Ridge. It involved a total of 11 people, including three juveniles.

Besides the three-year-old who died, five other people who were in an SUV that ended up near a stoplight pole on the northeast corner of the intersection were injured and taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. The five injured included four adults and one child. One of the adults was released from the hospital over the weekend, the City of Oak Ridge said.

The names of the juveniles involved in the crash are not being released, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release. The occupants of the SUV were: [Read more…]

Fatal crash: One adult released from hospital; police officers start memorial with stuffed animals

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Oak Ridge Police Department officers started a memorial with stuffed animals on Saturday morning for a three-year-old child killed in a fatal crash at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive on Friday evening, Jan. 13, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

One adult passenger injured in a fatal two-vehicle crash in Oak Ridge on Friday has been released from the hospital, a city official said Saturday. And Oak Ridge Police Department officers started a memorial at the crash site, leaving stuffed animals there Saturday morning.

The fatal crash was reported at about 5:15 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive. Police said the crash killed one three-year-old child and injured another child, and it also injured four adults. The five people who were injured and the child who died were all taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, a Level I trauma center. All six had been in the same vehicle, an older model dark-colored or black sport utility vehicle.

On Saturday, Sarah Self, spokesperson for the City of Oak Ridge, said one of the adult passengers was released from UT Medical Center.

The condition of the other injured patients (three adults and one child) was not available, Self said.

Five people in the second vehicle involved in the crash, a newer silver Volkswagen sedan, were not injured, Self said. There were four adults and one child in that car. [Read more…]

Child dies, five injured in crash

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A three-year-old died and five other people were taken to a trauma center in Knoxville after a two-vehicle crash in Oak Ridge at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive on Friday evening, Jan. 13, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1 p.m. Jan 16.

A three-year-old died and five other people were taken to a trauma center in Knoxville after a serious crash in Oak Ridge on Friday evening, authorities said.

The fatal two-vehicle crash involved 11 people. It was reported at about 5:15 p.m. Friday at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive.

Those taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, a Level 1 Trauma Center, were four adults and two children. One of those children is the three-year-old who died (the child was initially reported to be four). The four adults and two children were all in one vehicle, an older model dark-colored or black sport utility vehicle, or SUV.

Five people in a second vehicle—four adults and one child—were reported to not have injuries, according to the City of Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Police, fire respond to serious crash at Emory Valley Road, Lafayette

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Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive Crash Jan 13 2017

The intersection of Lafayette Drive and Emory Valley Road was closed Friday evening, Jan. 13, 2017. after a serious crash that required multiple ambulances. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story has been updated. Please see newer story here.

The intersection of Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive is closed as authorities investigate a serious crash Friday evening.

There were, at one point, four ambulances at the crash site, although it’s not clear if they were all used. The Oak Ridge Fire Department and Oak Ridge Police Department both responded.

The crash was reported at about 5:15 p.m. Friday. [Read more…]

Dump truck driver cited for trailer brake, safety chain violations after crash with car

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Rescuers said it was a miracle that a woman survived when a trailer carrying a small skid steer loader crashed into her Toyota Camry on Emory Valley Road on Friday evening, Sept. 2, 2016. The black dump truck reported to be pulling the trailer before the crash is partially visible in the background behind the tow truck above. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A Knoxville man who was allegedly driving a dump truck pulling a trailer that came loose and struck a car head-on on Emory Valley Road in September, trapping and injuring a driver, has been cited for violations of state laws governing trailer brakes and adequate safety chains, according to court records.

Gerald D. Cureton, 71, had an initial appearance scheduled on Wednesday morning in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. The court date was reset to November 9 to see if Cureton hires an attorney.

A violation of the brake requirement is a Class C misdemeanor, according to a copy of that section of state law, Tennessee Code Annotated 55-9-204, posted on LexisNexis.

A violation of the safety chain requirement is punishable by a fine of $50 on a first offense and a fine of between $50 and $500 on second and subsequent offenses, according to a copy of another section of state law, TCA 55-7-114, posted on LexisNexis. [Read more…]

Woman injured in Friday crash in stable condition at UT Medical Center

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Mindy Carter

Mindy Carter (Photo used with family’s permission)

 

The woman trapped and injured after a trailer carrying a loader crashed into the car she was driving in Oak Ridge on Friday was in stable condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville on Tuesday, a spokesperson said.

Arminda “Mindy” Carter, 32, of Oak Ridge was flown to the UT Medical Center by a Lifestar helicopter after the Friday evening crash on Emory Valley Road at Carnegie Drive in east Oak Ridge.

Both legs were broken in the crash and she had broken ribs and right shoulder, as well as multiple lacerations and a torn quad, said Carter’s brother, Justin Pruitt.

She had a surgery on her left leg, which was broken above the ankle and below the knee, on Friday night, Pruitt said.

She was scheduled to have a surgery on a broken femur in her right leg on Tuesday, Pruitt said Monday evening. [Read more…]

Police: Trailer came loose from truck before crashing into car on Friday

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The crash between a car and trailer with a small loader on it on Emory Valley Road on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, happened after the trailer came loose from a truck hitch and crossed into an oncoming lane, where it hit the car, authorities said. It took the Oak Ridge Fire Department and rescuers about 55 minutes to free the female driver pinned inside the car, and they used a tow truck to help lift the trailer and loader to take weight off the driver, Mindy Carter, 32, of Oak Ridge. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The crash between a car and trailer with a small loader on it on Emory Valley Road on Friday happened after the trailer came loose from a truck hitch and crossed into an oncoming lane, where it hit the car, authorities said.

The 1994 GMC truck was being driven east on Emory Valley Road at about 5:29 p.m. Friday by Gerald D. Cureton, 71, of Knoxville, when the two-vehicle crash occurred at Carnegie Drive, according to an Oak Ridge Police Department crash report.

The truck was towing a trailer with a small Case four-wheeled skid steer loader.

Headed west, in the opposite direction, was Arminda “Mindy” Carter, 32, of Oak Ridge. She was driving a 2010 Toyota Camry four-door sedan, the report said.

As the two vehicles approached the intersection, the trailer came free of the hitch used to secure it to the truck, according to the ORPD crash report. [Read more…]

Miraculous: Woman survives when trailer, small loader crash into car

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Rescuers said it was a miracle that a woman survived when a trailer carrying a small loader crashed into her Toyota Camry on Emory Valley Road on Friday evening, Sept. 2, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:30 p.m.

Rescuers said it was a miracle that a woman survived when a trailer carrying a small loader crashed into her Toyota Camry on Emory Valley Road on Friday evening.

It took the Oak Ridge Fire Department about 55 minutes to remove the woman, who was pinned inside the car. She was flown by a Lifestar medical helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

The woman, who was not identified, was talking to rescuers, authorities said. Her condition wasn’t clear, but she was reported to be conscious and alert.

“That’s probably the worst extrication I’ve seen where the person was still alive,” Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said. “There was an angel with her today.” [Read more…]

New Goodwill store now open

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Goodwill Staff, Business Leaders, Oak Ridge Chamber on Sept. 18, 2015

The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce organized a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Goodwill store on Emory Valley Road on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The new Goodwill store on Emory Valley Road opened on Friday, September 18.

The new store replaces the former Oak Ridge Goodwill, which was located on South Illinois Avenue.

There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new store on Friday, September 18.

“The new location…will provide a brighter shopping space with a significantly larger center for job training efforts,” the company said.

Executives said the new store, located at 697 Emory Valley Road, next to the new Hank’s Market, will continue to receive and sell donations of gently used clothing and household goods. Proceeds from the sale of goods in this and other Goodwill stores will fund job training programs and employment opportunities for people with barriers to employment in and around Oak Ridge, a press release said. [Read more…]

Hank’s Market opened Tuesday

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Hank's Market Ribbon-cutting

Hank’s Market opened before this ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday morning. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Hank’s Market, the new grocery store in east Oak Ridge, opened Tuesday. It’s in the space formerly used by Food Lion on Emory Valley Road.

It’s the second Hank’s store. The original store is in Washington, Indiana.

Hank’s has been interested in the former Food Lion site since Food Lion closed its Oak Ridge store last summer, said Tony Malanga, an East Tennessee-based district manager for the parent company, Houchens Food Group in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

“We had an opportunity with the Food Lion closing here,” Malanga said at a Tuesday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

The new store opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday, and it is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. [Read more…]

Hank’s Market hopes to open by Aug. 25

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Hank's Market Grocery Store

Hank’s Market grocery store plans to open at the former Food Lion in Oak Ridge by August 25.

 

Hank’s Market grocery store plans to open at the former Food Lion in east Oak Ridge by August 25.

Hank’s Market #45 will be at 691 Emory Valley Road.

The company has responded to several queries from local residents on its Facebook page. Here’s one response:

Our Oak Ridge store is scheduled to open later next month (August). We are hoping to have the doors open on the 25th of August.”

[Read more…]

Former Paragon Athletic Club demolished

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Paragon Athletic Club Demolition on July 19, 2015

The former Paragon Athletic Club on Emory Valley Road has been demolished. This picture was taken on Sunday, July 19, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 7:52 p.m.

The former Paragon Athletic Club on Emory Valley Road has been demolished.

The building, which hadn’t been used for years, has been knocked to the ground, although debris remains at the site.

The former fitness center is near the former Food Lion grocery store in east Oak Ridge. [Read more…]