By Bob Fowler
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
KINGSTON, Tenn. — When volunteer firefighters in Roane County responded Tuesday night to a report of a car colliding with a horse, they didn’t know the driver would be one of their own.
Critically injured was 18-year-old Caleb Wilson, who was flown by medical helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.
Wilson, a senior at Roane County High School, was in a medically induced coma Wednesday in the hospital’s intensive care unit, officials said.
Wilson became a fulltime firefighter with the East Roane County Volunteer Fire Department in September, according to Fire Chief David Maupin.
“We’re all praying for him,” Maupin said.
According to authorities, Wilson’s southbound Ford Focus collided with a full-grown horse that stepped directly in front of his vehicle on state Highway 58, also known as Gallaher Road, about 100 yards from the interchange with Interstate 40. The 6:30 p.m. collision “literally ripped the top of the car off,” Kingston Police Chief Jim Washam said.
The horse was killed, and officials Wednesday were still trying to determine how the animal got out of a nearby enclosed area.
The collision is under investigation by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
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