(This is a friend of Terry and Chuck's who is on their award winning softball team.)

The car



Man critical after driving into path of tractor-trailer
Saturday, June 21, 2008

A Memphis man was in critical condition after a crash between his car and a tractor-trailer on I-155 in Dyersburg about midnight Friday.
Ernest Smith, 2059 Waverly Ave., Memphis was transported by Dyersburg Regional Medical Center ambulance from the crash scene, immediately west of the Hurricane Hill overpass.

Smith was driving a 2006 Pontiac Grand Am when the accident occurred at about 11:50 p.m.

According to the Dyer County Sheriff's Department, several motorists called 911 about a black Grand Am driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of the interstate. Seconds after the first calls, Smith drove into the path of a 18-wheeler flatbed semi driven by Johnny Cooke of Alamo.

Cooke, who was driving for Worrell Express from Chicago, told Dyersburg police accident investigators the Grand Am crossed into his path of travel when the accident happened.

The force of the impact peeled the Smith car's windshield back as the top of the vehicle was sheared apart. The momentum stopped the Grand Am in the middle of the median, about a tenth of a mile from where Cooke's rig stopped on the east side of the Hurricane Hill overpass.

Smith had to be taken to The Regional Medical Center in Memphis by ambulance, as a storm on the flight path between Dyersburg and Memphis prevented medevac service.

Traffic was halted on both lanes of I-155 for almost an hour before one lane in each direction was opened.