One Dead after Fatal Crash in Jasper

JASPER, Tenn. (WDEF)- One person is dead after a fatal crash in Jasper.

Highway 41 is a two-lane road that connects Jasper in the Sequatchie Valley to Tracy City on top of the Cumberland Plateau.

It is a steep descent into Jasper, and it was the scene of a tragic incident Wednesday afternoon.

The tractor-trailer that crashed in Jasper Wednesday afternoon. (Courtesy: Jasper Police Department)

One crash witness, Keith Nunley, said, “We just came around the house and I heard a boom.”

That boom neighbors heard was a tractor trailer plowing through a neighboring house.

Jasper Police say the crash happened around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon

The path of the tractor trailer goes in a straight dirt line across this yard, and it continues through three yards.

It jumped over this driveway, went through this full yard, knocked down a fence, and went into a brown house.

Nick: Neighbor Brian Nunley quickly noticed there was a second vehicle involved in the crash, a blue Mitsubishi.

Nunley said, “I went to them initially, and tried to comfort the lady, they were some pretty bad pain.”

Erlanger Life Force was dispatched to the victims of the crash.

The fatality according Jasper Police is a 56-year-old male who was the passenger of that vehicle.

The driver, a 49-year-old woman, was airlifted to a nearby hospital.

That vehicle according to police was traveling northbound on Highway 41 when the truck, which was coming down the Plateau, veered into their lane.

Nunley said, “The trucker had gotten out of his truck, which it was totally demolished, the whole cab, don’t see how he survived, but he came out of the back of the house stumbling and said he had lost his brakes coming down the mountain.”

The Jasper Police Department says they are leading the investigation with assistance from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

There is no determination yet on if any charges will be filed.

Lieutenant Scott Evans of the Jasper Police Department, said, “At this time everything is still preliminary, once we finish our investigation, then we will review the facts, and then wherever the facts lead us, that’s where we will go.”

There were no one in the homes affected by the crash at the time of the incident.

Neighbors say they’re fortunate the truck didn’t go through their homes.

Nunley said, “I have seen cars at certain times of day fly up and down here but I’ve never seen an accident like this.”

Nunley did share with us that the truck driver told him that they were driving down Highway 41 to avoid traffic on I-24 due to a vehicle fire that was ongoing at the same time.

Police said the driver is from Georgia but they have not released the identities of anyone involved in this crash.