By Matt Lakin
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The car that collided with a Morristown fire engine Friday ran a stop sign, and alcohol might have played a part in the crash, authorities said.
The driver, Christina Broyles, 21, and two passengers were airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. Broyles was treated and released, but passengers Jeffrey Walston, 21, and Norman Rossey, 21, remained in critical condition Saturday night.
The Morristown Fire Department reserve engine was on its way for refueling around 1:10 p.m. when the Plymouth Acclaim driven by Broyles blew through a stop sign near the corner of South Jackson and Rosedale avenues, said Trooper Mark Self of the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
“The engine T-boned the car on the passenger side,” he said.
The impact knocked the car about 100 feet down the road. Rossey, who sat in the back seat, climbed out through a window, but rescuers spent about an hour cutting Broyles and the front-seat passenger, Walston, from the wreckage. Broyles and Walston wore seatbelts.
The fire engine’s driver, Justin Cobb, was the only firefighter aboard. He tried to help, the trooper said.
Cobb, now on routine administrative leave, has served with the department for the past four years.
Charges are pending against Broyles, and alcohol could have played a role in the crash, the trooper said.
“There was an odor of alcohol in the vehicle, but we don’t know from whom,” he said.
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