November 12, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
A Sparta woman lost her life in a two-vehicle crash Monday afternoon on Highway 70 east in the Hillcrest area.
Dead is 57-year-old Rhonda Wilson.
According to Trooper Chris Delong of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Wilson was traveling east in a 2005 silver Buick LeSabre as 32-year-old Jason Ervin of Smithville was heading west in a 2013 red Toyota Tacoma.
Ervin’s vehicle came across the double yellow line into the eastbound lane and struck Wilson’s car. Ervin told Trooper Delong that he had fallen asleep. Wilson tried unsuccessfully to avoid the collision. Upon impact Wilson’s car went off the right side of the road onto the grass and came to rest facing north. Ervin’s truck overturned on the passenger side in the eastbound lane. Wilson died at the scene. Ervin was apparently uninjured. Both were wearing their seatbelts.
Members of the DeKalb Fire Department Rescue Team used extrication tools to better access the body for removal from the wreckage.
Trooper Delong said Ervin was cited for failing to maintain lane of travel and for no insurance. DeKalb EMS and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department were also on the scene along with other THP officers.
Meanwhile, a woman’s hand was reportedly severed in a separate crash late Saturday night on Highway 146 near Tabernacle Road.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol reports that 29-year-old Laura P. Palomo Morales was traveling North on Short Mountain Highway in a 2016 Jeep Cherokee when the vehicle went off the right side of the roadway and then came back onto the highway. The Jeep then traveled off the left side of the roadway and struck a tree head-on where it came to a final rest in a yard.