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…]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…]
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.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic
Pro
Temporary
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.
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…]
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…]
Pictured above at left during the trial for Noelle Patty, 41, center, of Oak Ridge, in Anderson County Criminal Court on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, are defense attorneys Michael Ritter, left, and David Ege. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 4:20 p.m.
CLINTON—An Anderson County jury on Wednesday found an Oak Ridge resident guilty of criminally negligent homicide after a fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue more than two years ago.
The jury of 10 men and two women deliberated about three hours before reaching its unanimous verdict at the end of a two-day trial of Noelle Leigh Patty, 41, in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.
Patty was found not guilty of a second count, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, but the jury did find her guilty of what is known as a lesser included offense, a charge of reckless endangerment.
Patty was convicted of the two charges in the death of motorcyclist Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge.
“They finally got my brother some justice,” said Linda Shephard, after family members had exchanged hugs and tears with prosecutors and police officers. [Read more…]
Noelle Leigh Patty
CLINTON—A trial has been scheduled this month for an Oak Ridge woman charged with homicide after a fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue in January 2016.
The felony jury trial for Noelle Leigh Patty, 41, is scheduled for July 24 in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Patty has been charged with homicide in the death of motorcyclist Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge.
On Friday, Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge rejected a motion to dismiss two of the five charges filed against Patty: criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment when a deadly weapon is involved. The Anderson County Grand Jury has found probable cause on the five charges, Elledge said, and no facts or evidence had been presented to the court yet. He called the motion to dismiss “totally premature.”
Patty was indicted on the five charges by the Anderson County Grand Jury on August 1, 2017. Besides homicide and reckless endangerment, the charges included failure to yield the right-of-way resulting in death, failure to obey a traffic control device, and failure to provide proof of insurance.
The crash occurred between a Cadillac STS car and Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle on Sunday evening, January 31, 2016, at the western exit of the Westcott Center, the Kroger shopping center. Authorities said Patty, who was driving the Cadillac, made an improper left turn from a right-turn-only lane at that exit, and she failed to yield to Shephard, who was riding the motorcycle north on North Illinois Avenue. Shephard died after he collided with the car, which was turning south in “the pathway of northbound traffic,” Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Chris Luethge said in arrest warrants filed after the crash.
The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. The rest of the story includes information about the “undisputed facts,” results of alcohol and drug tests, and arguments for and against dismissing two of the five charges.
Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.
Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:
Please let us know if you advertise on Oak Ridge Today, have recently contributed, or subscribe through PayPal or check payments, but you have not yet been added to our website as a member. You can send an email to [email protected] to be added. Thank you!
Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include coverage of court cases and in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.
Lee Harold Cromwell (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Lee Harold Cromwell, who was convicted of homicide and aggravated assault after a fatal crash after fireworks three years ago, is eligible for a new trial on the aggravated assault charges, a state appeals court said Tuesday.
After reviewing several issues raised on appeal, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville upheld Cromwell’s one conviction of reckless vehicular homicide and his five-year sentence on that charge.
But citing misleading and confusing jury instructions, the court ordered a new trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on the eight convictions of reckless aggravated assault. Those convictions, which were reversed by the appeals court on Tuesday, had helped to add seven years to Cromwell’s sentence.
“After our review, we affirm the evidence was sufficient to support the defendant’s convictions and the trial court properly sentenced the defendant, but (we) conclude the trial court committed reversible error in instructing the jury as to reckless aggravated assault,” the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals said. “Therefore, we vacate the defendant’s eight convictions for reckless aggravated assault and remand this case to the trial court for a new trial.”
The rest of this in-depth content, which includes exclusive coverage of oral arguments and the jury instructions, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.
Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:
Please let us know if you advertise on Oak Ridge Today, have recently contributed, or subscribe through PayPal or check payments, but you have not yet been added to our website as a member. You can send an email to [email protected] to be added. Thank you!
Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.
One person died in a two-vehicle crash on Melton Lake Drive near the rowing course finish line on Sunday, May 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Authorities have identified the female driver who died in a head-on two-vehicle crash on Melton Lake Drive on Sunday night as Jessica Hotchkiss, 37, of Clinton.
No other details had been released as of Tuesday, and the Oak Ridge Police Department said the investigation was ongoing.
The fatal crash was reported at about 11:23 p.m. Sunday just south of the tower at the Oak Ridge rowing course finish line. It involved a sport utility vehicle and a Comcast utility bucket truck.
The ORPD said then that it appeared the SUV had crossed the center line, striking the Comcast truck head-on. [Read more…]
The 75-year-old man killed in a vehicle-pedestrian crash in Marlow on Wednesday morning walked in front of a Ford truck for reasons that aren’t clear, authorities said.
The fatal crash was reported at 10 a.m. Wednesday on Oliver Springs Highway (State Route 61) at Old Batley Road.
The pedestrian has been identified as Curtis Byrge, 75. He has a Clinton mailing address.
A Tennessee Highway Patrol report said Byrge was walking west on Oliver Springs Highway when, for an unknown reason, he turned to walk south across the highway. [Read more…]
Rebecca L. Vanasse
An Oak Ridge woman was arrested on a probation violation charge after a fatal crash in Poplar Creek in Roane County on Tuesday, authorities said.
Rebecca L. Vanasse, 26, of North Purdue Avenue, was arrested by the Oak Ridge Police Department on the violation of probation charge on Tuesday, according to Anderson County court and jail records. A hold has also been placed on Vanasse for Rhea County, and she remained jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Thursday morning, according to those records.
Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas confirmed that Vanasse is the same woman who has been identified as the driver in the fatal creek crash on Poplar Creek Road on Tuesday. She was arrested by ORPD after she was treated and released from the emergency room, Lucas said.
“We had a probation violation warrant and Rhea County had a warrant as well,” he said. [Read more…]
Note: This story was updated at 2 a.m. Dec. 4.
A Knoxville man died after a head-on collision on Andersonville Highway on Friday night, authorities said.
James D. Gunter, 56, was driving east on the highway, also known as State Route 61, in a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette at about 9:39 p.m. Friday when he crossed the yellow line to pass another vehicle and hit a 2006 Toyota 4Runner head-on in the westbound lane, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Gunter was killed, the THP said in a fatality report.
Gunter is suspected of drinking and drug use, according to the report. Alcohol and drug tests have been requested, which is routine in fatal crashes. [Read more…]
