Passenger Is Freed
From Car After
Its Roof Is Cut Off;
She Is Hospitalized
BY BILL JONES
STAFF WRITER
A seriously injured woman was flown to the Johnson City Medical Center from the scene of two-vehicle accident shortly after noon at the intersection Baileyton Road and Roaring Fork Road.
A Wings Air Rescue helicopter landed in a field a short distance from the collision between a Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle and a compact Toyota Corolla sedan to pick up a passenger who had been trapped inside the Toyota.
The injured woman, Cathy Dean, 54, of Cross Anchor Park, Afton, who was treated at the scene by Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services personnel, was freed the car after Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad volunteers cut away its roof.
Trooper Eric Wise later reported that the accident occurred shortly after noon when a 2004 Expedition sports utility vehicle driven by Crystal Chambers, 23, of Justice Road, Afton, pulled from Roaring Fork Road into the path of the 1992 Toyota Corolla being driven toward Greeneville on Baileyton Road by Albert Dean, 55, of Davis Valley Road.
Cathy Dean, the injured woman, was a passenger in Albert Dean's vehicle. She was listed in stable condition on Friday afternoon at Johnson City Medical Center.
Trooper Wise said that a passenger in
Crystal Chamber's car, her son, Dylan Chambers, 1, escaped injury, as did Albert Dean.
Firefighters from the Baileyton-based United Volunteer Fire Department stood by with a fire hose
while rescue efforts were in progress and used the hose to extinguish what appeared to be a small
fire beneath the sport utility vehicle's hood.
The accident remains under investigation.
A.J. HIGHWAY ACCIDENT
While emergency personnel were responding to the collision on Baileyton Road, another accident with injuries was reported at 12:14 p.m. at the intersection of East Andrew Johnson Highway and Chuckey Highway
Trooper David Good said the accident occurred when a 1998 Nissan driven by Heather M. Bible, 34, of Red Hill Road, attempted to turn left from the southbound lanes of Andrew Johnson Highway and cross the northbound lanes to reach Chuckey Highway.
In doing so, her car pulled into the path of a 2005 Western Star truck driven by Richard Cruey, 42, of Bluff City.
After the collision, the truck overturned in the median, entrapping Cruey, trooper Good said.
Tommy Dingus, an off-duty Wings Rescue paramedic, happened upon the scene and cut away Cruey's seat belt and helped him from the overturned truck. Cruey was treated and released at Takoma Regional Hospital.
Bible, the driver of the Nissan, was transported to Laughlin Memorial Hospital where she was treated and released, the trooper said.
Bible's passenger in the Nissan, Floyd Edwards, 43, of Rheatown Road, was injured and transported to Laughlin Memorial Hospital and then transferred to Johnson City Medical Center.
The accident affected traffic in both directions on the Andrew Johnson Highway for about 90 minutes, trooper Good said.
