Oak Ridge Today

ORPD working with national center to identify newborn, find missing child

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Images from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

The Oak Ridge Police Department is working with a national center to find a child who was last seen in Oak Ridge in 2016 and to identify a newborn baby found floating along the shoreline of Melton Hill Lake almost three years ago.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has posted information about the two children on its website, which is partially funded through a U.S. Department of Justice grant.

In the first case, investigators said Maria Contreras Lopez was last seen in Oak Ridge on September 29, 2016. She was born August 9, 2000, and was 16 years old when she was last seen. She would be 22 now. Maria is female and Hispanic with brown hair and eyes. She could be about 5’3″ and 115 pounds.

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Man charged with homicide in crash that killed 3-year-old boy

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Jason Robert Braden

Jason Robert Braden II

 

An Anderson County man has been charged in an 11-count indictment that includes vehicular homicide by intoxication after a crash that killed a three-year-old boy and injured at least three other people in Oak Ridge last year.

Jason Robert Braden III, 3, died in the two-vehicle crash, which was considered a mass casualty event. It was reported at about 5:20 p.m. Friday, January 13, 2017, at the intersection of Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive.

Charged in the 11-count indictment is Jason Robert Braden II, 24, of Bush Road in Marlow. The charges against Braden include vehicular homicide by intoxication, vehicular homicide by recklessness, four counts of reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment when a deadly weapon (a motor vehicle) is involved, driving under the influence, driving without a license, speeding, and violation of the child restraint law.

The Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton indicted Braden on February 27. He was arrested March 4. His bond has been set at $125,000, and he was released from the Anderson County Detention Facility on Monday, March 19. He has an arraignment set for Monday morning, March 26, in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. [Read more…]

Third shooting on Wakefield Road in 48 hours, followed by car crash, fleeing driver

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Car Crash at Hilltop and West Outer Drive

Police say the driver of this silver Infiniti fled on foot after a three-car crash at North Illinois Avenue and West Outer Drive on Monday night, just a few hours after a shooting was reported a short distance away on Wakefield Road, the third shooting there in 48 hours. Police have since described the driver as a person of interest in the Monday night shooting and crash. Pictured above at center are ORPD officers James Elkins and Garrett Robbins. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:35 p.m.

A shooting was reported on Wakefield Road on Monday evening, the third shooting on the street in 48 hours. The shooting was followed a few hours later by a three-car crash at the intersection of West Outer Drive and North Illinois Avenue. Police couldn’t immediately say if the two events were connected.

There didn’t appear to be any injuries in the shooting, which occurred sometime between about 8:15 and 8:30 p.m. and left some 21 casings in the street. Residents in one Wakefield Road home said two bullets pierced a bedroom, but fortunately, no one was in it at the time.

Authorities said minor injuries were reported in the crash, which was reported at about 10:15 p.m. near the Ian’s Market gas station and convience store. One person reportedly fled from the crash, and one witness said the man darted into a wooded area behind the east corner of Ian’s Market, headed north toward Oliver Springs.

The Oak Ridge Police Department and Anderson County Sheriff’s Department swarmed the area. An ACSD canine unit responded to help search for the person of interest, but as of early Tuesday morning, officers hadn’t found the man. [Read more…]

Seattle man arrested during Y-12 protest crossed blue trespass line, police say

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Christopher Ryan Spicer Arrest at Y-12

Christopher Ryan Spicer of Seattle was arrested and charged with criminal trespass at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Ralph Hutchison)

The Seattle man who was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday had repeatedly failed to comply with police commands, and he crossed a blue trespass line at the main entrance to the nuclear weapons plant, authorities said.

Christopher Ryan Spicer, 31, was participating in a weekly protest at Y-12 at about 6 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Bear Creek and Scarboro roads. This protest was significant because it occurred less than two days before the scheduled sentencing of the three protesters who broke into Y-12 in July 2012 and spray-painted slogans and splashed blood on a uranium storage building.

Dozens of people came to Knoxville from across the country for the Tuesday sentencing of the three: Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli. However, it was postponed to Feb. 18 because of snow.

Christopher Ryan Spicer

Christopher Ryan Spicer

Oak Ridge Police Department Officer James Elkins said Spicer was among the protesters on Sunday evening before he crossed a street and walked toward the Y-12 guard shack. Spicer repeatedly failed to comply with orders given by him and ORPD Sgt. Roy Heinz, Elkins said in a warrant filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. The officers told Spicer to stop as he approached the blue trespass line at the federal site, Elkins said. [Read more…]

Three officers, one supervisor suspended after unbadged driver enters Y-12

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Security Officers at Y-12 East Gate

Security police officers stand guard during an August 2012 peace protest at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex at Bear Creek and Scarboro roads.

Four guards have been suspended at the Y-12 National Security Complex after a woman who did not have permission to be at the nuclear weapons plant drove through the main entrance on Thursday morning and was stopped a short time later, a federal spokesman said Monday.

The woman, who said she was looking for a new, low-cost apartment complex, followed morning commuters through the east gate at Bear Creek and Scarboro roads and drove unhindered through the plant before she was stopped by security officers at the west gate, according to an Oak Ridge Police Department report. Brenda L. Haptonstall, 62, told ORPD Officer Roy J. Heinz that she thought there must have been a crash at Y-12 because there were “nice officers waving her through with illuminated flashlight cones,” the report said. [Read more…]

Report: Oak Ridge police officer assaulted by high school student

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An Oak Ridge High School student allegedly threatened a teacher and punched a police officer trying to escort him out of the cafeteria on Thursday, authorities said.

The student, Christopher Lee Arwood, 18, had allegedly “become disorderly in the school cafeteria and threatened a teacher with violence” at about 11:05 a.m. Thursday, court records said.

Oak Ridge Police Officer Sherrill Selby, who is the school resource officer, tried to intervene and escort Arwood from the cafeteria, which was full of students, an affidavit said.

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