Woman Found Sunday, Three Days After Crashing Down Embankment

July 29, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

After being stranded for three days following a one car crash, a 54 year old Silver Point woman was discovered by the side of the road on highway 141 in the Wolf Creek community Sunday morning.

Sharon Law, who had plunged down a steep embankment into a creek bed in her 2017 Toyota Corolla sometime Thursday, went unnoticed until Sunday. The car could not be seen by passing motorists from the road.

In order to get help, Law pulled herself up to the top of the hill to the side of the road and was spotted by a passing motorist there early Sunday morning, She was taken by EMS to Cookeville Regional Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

According to Trooper Brent Collier of the Tennessee Highway Patrol Law was traveling west when her car plunged off the embankment and struck a tree before coming to rest in a creek bed. Although her family had been searching for Law, they had not reported her missing, thinking they had to wait 72 hours to file a report.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department was also on the scene.

July 29, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A Sparta man was airlifted Saturday after his dump truck loaded with top soil overturned on Cookeville Boat Dock Road in the Austin Bottom Community.

Sergeant Tracy White of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said 53 year old Johnny Jones was driving down a steep grade in his 1982 Ford dump truck for the Top Soil Company of Cookeville, when he went off the left side of the road and struck an embankment causing the truck to rollover onto its top in the roadway. Of course, the load of top soil spilled out as well.

The DeKalb County Fire Department’s Extrication and Rescue Team was called to the scene because Jones was entrapped in the truck and the Putnam County Rescue Squad was also summoned to render mutual aid support. They were able to gain access to Jones with their extrication equipment and removed him from the truck. He was treated at the scene by EMS and airlifted by helicopter ambulance to Skyline Medical Center in Nashville. The DeKalb County Fire Department set up the landing zone for the airlift. Jones claimed his brakes failed, causing him to lose control of the truck.

July 28, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A suspect in a domestic assault in Cannon County was apprehended today (Sunday morning) in DeKalb County. He was reportedly in a stolen pickup truck out of Rutherford County.

Michael Holden Thomas was found with the help from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, said Keith Lowery, Rutherford County Chief Deputy.

According to local reports, Thomas was in a pickup truck approaching DeKalb County on Short Mountain Highway in Cannon County when THP troopers lost sight of him during a pursuit.

Later, Rutherford County officers were able to ping Thomas’ cell phone to a location near the Four Star Loop off Poss Road in DeKalb County.

Local deputies responded to the area and saw the truck Thomas was driving on Four Seasons Road and followed it onto Hendrixson Road and then to Evins Mill Road. Meanwhile a THP helicopter conducting an aerial search spotted the truck as it approached Highway 70 and while officers on the ground put down spike strips to disable it, Thomas drove the truck across the highway from Evins Mill to Midway Road before coming to a stop in a bean field. THP officers then converged on the truck and took Thomas into custody at around 9 a.m. Members of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and Smithville Police Department were also on the scene to offer assistance.

According to a press release from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department, Cannon County Sheriff Darrell Young requested Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office to help search for Thomas Wednesday after the domestic case and after he allegedly broke into a house while carrying a machete.

Deputies located Thomas at about 1 a.m. Sunday at the Handlebar on East Main Street near Murfreesboro, the statement said.

“Thomas was accused of attempting to strike a deputy, as he fled early this morning, and subsequently striking a Rutherford County Sheriff’s vehicle while fleeing the bar,” Lowery said.
Thomas was apprehended in a stolen truck from Goochie Ford Road in Rutherford County, the chief deputy said.

THP’s Aviation helicopter joined the search for Thomas along with Rutherford and Cannon county deputies throughout Saturday night into Sunday morning, the press release said.