Oak Ridge Today



Passenger dies after THP pursuit

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The passenger has died after a two-vehicle crash during a police pursuit in Anderson County on Sunday, January 30.

It’s the second death after the police chase and fatal crash near the intersection of Mountain Road and Highway 441 at about 2 p.m. that Sunday. The driver, Elijah Morley of Dandridge, died after the crash.

On Wednesday, Dave Clark, Seventh Judicial District attorney general, said Morley’s passenger, Dustin Dienst of Morristown, died Tuesday night. He had been hospitalized since the crash.

A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper, Austin Dean, was also injured in the crash. Clark said earlier that Dean was treated and released from a hospital.

[Read more…]

Driver identified in fatal AC crash

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The driver who died has been identified after a police pursuit and fatal crash in Anderson County on Sunday.

The identity of the driver and two other people injured in the two-vehicle crash were initially withheld after the crash at Mountain Road and Highway 441 at about 2 p.m. Sunday.

On Saturday, Dave Clark, district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District in Anderson County, said the medical examiner had completed the identification of the driver who died and notified family members.

The driver has been identified as Elijah Morley of Dandridge and the passenger who was injured in that vehicle was identified as Dustin Dienst of Morristown, Clark said.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper who was injured in the crash was Austin Dean, Clark said.

[Read more…]

Ohio woman dies in I-75 crash

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An Ohio woman died after her vehicle ran off the roadway, went airborne, and crashed into the median on Interstate 75 in Anderson County on Friday morning.

The driver who died was Sherry Driggers, 67, of Hamilton, Ohio, according to a preliminary crash report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The one-vehicle fatal crash occurred at about 9:53 a.m. Friday at mile marker 126 north of the Norris exit.

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Two die in crashes in Anderson County

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Two people died in crashes in Anderson County this past weekend. One was a student at Hardin Valley Academy, and the other was a 43-year-old Knoxville woman.

The first crash, which killed the HVA senior, was reported in the Claxton area on Friday night. Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said it was a graduation season tragedy involving some young people who had been celebrating in Knox County.

“Whether they were served alcohol at a commercial establishment is being investigated,” Clark said in a social media post on Saturday.

Clark said it appeared that eight people were riding in a pickup truck when it crashed in the Claxton area on New Henderson Road at Henderson Bend Road.

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Driver, passenger identified in fatal crash

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The passenger who died in a crash on State Route 95 on Wednesday has been identified as Ricky L. Crabtree, 39, of Oak Ridge.

The driver, who is Crabtree’s brother, has been identified as Rusty A. Crabtree, 37, also of Oak Ridge.

The crash was reported at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday on SR 95 just south of Bethel Valley Road, the western entrance to Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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ORPD investigating fatal crash on SR 95 near Bethel Valley

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The Oak Ridge Police Department is investigating a fatal crash of a vehicle into a tree on Wednesday on State Route 95 just south of Bethel Valley Road.

When they arrived, police officers found a 39-year-old male passenger who was pronounced dead on the scene, a press release said. The driver was taken to Methodist Medical Center with injuries that weren’t life-threatening.

Identification of the male passenger is being withheld until relatives have been notified, the press release said.

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Roane County man dies in SR 95 crash

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Oak Ridge Police Vehicles
A Roane County man died in a single-vehicle crash on State Route 95 Wednesday night, Aug. 22, 2019, police said. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Police Department)

A Roane County man died in a single-vehicle crash on State Route 95 Wednesday night, police said.

The fatal crash was reported at about 9:40 p.m. Wednesday about one-tenth of a mile south of Bethel Valley Road, west of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.

Dylan Young, 28, was driving the sport utility vehicle that crashed, and he was driving north on SR 95, the ORPD said. The SUV left the roadway and hit a tree, police said.

[Read more…]

Two teens die, two injured in Roane County crash

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Two teenagers died and two were injured in a single-vehicle crash into a tree in Roane County on Sunday afternoon, state troopers said.

The fatal crash was reported at about 2:42 p.m. Sunday on Orchard Valley Drive at Dyllis Road in Roane County. That’s north of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

The two male passengers who died were Austin J. French, 18, and Joshua A. Freels, 16, according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol report.

[Read more…]

Driver identified in fatal crash on Edgemoor Road

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The driver killed in the two-vehicle crash on Edgemoor Road on Monday morning has been identified as Michelle Garcia, 61, of Clinton, police said.

The head-on collision, which killed Garcia and injured the other driver, was reported at about 6:30 a.m. Monday near Haw Ridge Park. The name of the other driver hasn’t been released yet.

“The crash remains under investigation,” the Oak Ridge Police Department said Friday. “No other details will be released at this time.”

[Read more…]

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

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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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Tennessee Supreme Court will not hear Cromwell’s appeal

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Oak Ridge resident Lee Harold Cromwell, 68, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on 28 counts of forgery and filling fraudulent liens during a hearing in Nashville criminal court on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

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…]

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…]

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