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A crash at a construction
zone on Highway 79 injured three persons.
MCKENZIE (November 28) Three persons were
injured Wednesday after a rear-end
automobile crash in the construction zone
along U.S. 79 south of McKenzie.
According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, a
flagman had stopped southbound traffic near
the former taverns. A Tennessee Department
of Transportation truck pulling a lowboy
trailer had stopped according to the
flagmans instructions. Immediately behind
the TDOT truck was a 1999 Ford Focus driven
by Rebecca Hamilton, 48, of Paris Pike,
McKenzie. Hamilton had also properly
stopped. An unnamed motorist, driving a
Lincoln, had stopped behind the Hamilton
vehicle. The driver of the Lincoln looked in
his rearview mirror and saw a 1999 Ford
Ranger fast approaching. He moved the
Lincoln to the shoulder of the road just
before the Ranger pickup, driven by Sarah
Strickland, 82, of Alabama Street, McKenzie,
slammed into the rear of the Hamilton
vehicle, which was sandwiched between the
TDOT truck and the Ford pickup.
McKenzie Emergency Medical Services
dispatched two ambulances for two patients
in the Hamilton vehicle and one in the
pickup truck. McKenzie Fire/Rescue team
responded to extricate Hamilton. All three
patients were transported to McKenzie
Regional Hospital.
A helicopter airlifted Larry Black, 31, of
302 Paris Pike, McKenzie, a passenger in
Hamilton's car, to Jackson General Hospital,
with serious injuries.
D&D Service Center towed Hamilton's car and
Strickland's pickup.
Construction workers along the three-mile
stretch indicate that motorists are not
driving defensively and many are driving too
fast. |
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