June 23, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
A nine year old girl and a woman were airlifted after a one car crash Saturday afternoon on Evins Mill Road.
Trooper Jason Cobble of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said 20 year old Alex Chase Upchurch of Smithville was traveling north in a 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis when he failed to negotiate a curve, went off the right side of the roadway, and struck a tree.
21 year old Courtney Johnson was a passenger along with the nine year old girl and two other children, including a six year old boy and another boy, who is almost two years old.
A helicopter ambulance landed in a pasture by the road to airlift the nine year old girl to Vanderbilt Hospital. The other passengers were transported by DeKalb EMS to Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital. Upchurch was not injured but went to the hospital with the others. Johnson was later airlifted from the hospital to Vanderbilt.
The names of the children were not released because they are minors.
Members of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department were also on the scene.