January 20, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Two people were seriously injured in a one car Friday morning crash at 9088 Short Mountain Highway.
33-year-old Bobby O’Conner, Jr. and 39-year-old Latonia Anderson, both of Smithville were taken from the scene by DeKalb EMS to a helicopter landing zone and airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville
Trooper Brent Collier of the Tennessee Highway Patrol reported that at around 8:30 a.m. O’Conner was traveling south on Short Mountain Highway in a 2014 Hyundai Elantra when he ran off the right side of the roadway, continued to travel a short distance south, and then the vehicle turned onto its side before colliding with a tree, where it came to final rest in the yard of a residence. Anderson was a passenger.
Summoned to the scene were members of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, DeKalb Fire Department, DeKalb EMS, THP, and a Life Flight air ambulance. The DeKalb Fire Department’s Rescue and Extrication Team was also needed to cut through the mangled car to remove the roof and push away the dashboard to gain better access to O’Conner whose legs were trapped.