Girl, 5, critical after 321 wreck

By Mark Boxley
of The Daily Times Staff

A 5-year-old Sparta girl was in critical condition Saturday after a two-vehicle T-bone crash on U.S. Highway 321 near Townsend.

The girl, Hanna Lindsay, 5, was flown by Lifestar to University of Tennessee Medical Center after the accident, which happened at about 6:18 p.m. and shut down traffic in both directions for about two hours.

According to Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Cory Russell, Wanda Lindsay, 70, Sparta, was driving on Highway 321 toward Townsend and apparently lost control of her vehicle as it came around a curve. The right wheel of the red Chevrolet Cavalier went off the side of the highway, and Wanda Lindsay overcorrected and entered the oncoming lane of traffic, Russell said. She was hit by a Mercury minivan driven by Leonard Webb, 37, Iron Wood Circle, Maryville.

Hanna Lindsay, who was a passenger in the Cavalier, was sitting in the backseat, very near the point of the impact.

The force of the crash sent a shower of glass flying dozens of feet down the highway.

Wanda Lindsay and another passenger in the car, Cheyenne Bredelove, 10, Sparta, were taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to University of Tennessee Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Nicosha Webb, who was one of six people in the minivan, said when Lindsay's car came into their lane, there just wasn't much they could do to avoid the wreck.

"It looked like she (Lindsay) lost control," Webb said. "There was no stopping it. We tried, we slammed on the brakes.

"She came right in front of us and we couldn't miss her."

Everyone was wearing their seat belt in the van and both air bags deployed, she said, so everyone was shaken up, but OK.

Russell said there was nothing Leonard Webb could have done to have stopped the wreck.

No citations are pending in the incident Russell said, and he thanked members of the other emergency agencies that responded for their hard work, especially those from the Townsend Volunteer Fire Department. "They did a wonderful job," he said.

Members of the Blount County Fire Department, Blount County Volunteer Rescue Squad, Townsend Police Department and Blount County Sheriff's Office also responded to the scene.