According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the 40-year-old driver of a 2003 Toyota was fatally wounded in a two-car accident that occurred on Dec. 18. The accident happened on Interstate 40 near Lovell Road at 3:58 a.m. Two other drivers were taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center; one person was treated and released and the hospital said they had no record of treatment of the other individual.
According to a Trooper with the Highway Patrol, the accident took place when the driver of a 2014 Toyota RAV4 was traveling westbound on I-40 near the 375 exit and slowed down because of traffic associated with an accident that had happened earlier around 3:39 a.m. at mile marker 374. The man who was driving the 2003 Toyota struck the Toyota RAV4 from behind, forcing it off the road.
Police said both the driver and passenger in the Toyota RAV4 were wearing their seat belts; however, the man who was fatally wounded was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the car crash. He was a substitute carrier who was en route to pick up newspapers from the News Sentinel and deliver them for his wife, who was the regular carrier for the paper. The interstate was closed for several hours but has since reopened.
When an accident has caused a fatality, police may conduct a thorough investigation to determine if a wrongful death occurred. If it can be established that a circumstance such as texting while driving, distracted driving or hazardous road conditions contributed to the cause of the automobile accident, they may determine that a driver was responsible. It is possible that the injured parties or family members of the man who died may seek compensation for medical bills or lost wages.
Source: Knoxville News Sentinel , “One killed in I-40 West crash near Lovell Road“, December 18, 2014