Lenoir City woman airlifted to UT Medical Center after wreck on West Lamar Alexander Parkway
By Iva Butlerof The Daily Times Staff
Originally published: June 30. 2009 3:01AM
Last modified: June 29. 2009 10:40PM
A 49-year-old Lenoir City woman is listed in stable condition after being airlifted to University of Tennessee Medical Center following a wreck at 9:04 a.m. Monday.
Teresa Underwood was driving east on West Lamar Alexander Parkway just inside the Blount County line when the accident occurred.
Brooke Coleman and Cody McCrary of Lenoir City were driving westbound toward Lenoir City when they saw the accident.
Coleman said they saw Underwood run out of the road, then jerk the wheel and overcorrected. The vehicle then started fishtailing and flipped when it hit the median.
Underwood was conscious after the accident, McCrary said.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Chris Best and Blount County Traffic Division Deputy Kevin Clendenen said the evidence backed up the witnesses' account.
Best said the driver traveled a good 200 yards after leaving the lane of travel.
She apparently ran off the road and hit the grass and started to jerk the wheel, going so fast she couldn't control it.
Officers estimated she was traveling below or a little above the 65 miles-per-hour speed limit posted for that area of the road.
The vehicle had to have flipped up because the only damage was on the right front fender area of her vehicle, Best said. "The vehicle took an impact you wouldn't believe," he said.
Once it flipped, the blue Ford Escape rolled 2¬½ times before stopping westbound in a grassy field down the hill from Hickory Valley Baptist Church.
While Underwood was conscious after the accident, emergency personnel found her hanging from her seat belt upside down in the vehicle.
"We'd have had a fatality if she hadn't been wearing a seat belt. That was the only thing that kept her alive," Clendenen said.
He said he looked in the vehicle and saw two car seats and was afraid they would be looking for babies. Underwood turned out to be the only occupant.
She suffered a gash to her wrist and was bleeding so much that officers speculated she nicked a vein.
The accident occurred near the intersection with Marble Hill Road.
If you want even more of the best news and information source in Blount County, every word of The Daily Times print edition is available online. Get fully searchable access online and a downloadable PDF copy of the newspaper every day with your subscription. Prefer hard copy? Subscribe today for home delivery service. The Daily Times, your hometown newspaper of record for 125 years and counting.