Truck pinballs Around Square
By Greg Wells
CCN-Editor
Thursday, the sound of squealing tires was punctuated by the sound of metal crashing into metal repeatedly on the Square in Burkesville.
First responders report that Thomas Moore, the driver of a white Chevrolet pickup, apparently experienced a medical emergency which led to five other vehicles, and an as-yet-unopened restaurant being smashed.
From inside the soon-to-be-opened Italian Bistro on the square in Burkesville.
Moore was taken to the hospital, as was one other person, Autumn Lee.
Two of the five vehicles struck, one owned by Alex Killman and the other by Crystal Mawers, were unoccupied.
Moore’s vehicle began hitting other vehicles as he was traveling north on Main Street around the Square, impacting on an SUV in the area of Guffey’s Art Studio, before rounding the square and striking a pickup parked near the justice center.
The truck proceeded to complete the circuit around the Square, passing between the two road signs on the south end and striking Lee’s SUV, then bouncing off it into a blue compact car owned by Crystal, and then pushing it into the Italian Bistro.
Another vehicle that was struck by the pick-up truck as it careened around the square. This one was located in front of Bill Guffey’s Art Studio on the east side of the courthouse square.
Scot Sheffield, who had expected to open that restaurant later this month, said the opening will be delayed. The opening of the restaurant had already been seriously delayed when his van had been struck by a vehicle being pursued by law-enforcement in Clinton County.
Sheffield had been hospitalized extensively and had repeated surgeries to save his life and return him to work. The delay in opening this month did not involve any injury to anyone in the restaurant or the flower shop connected to it, and no one was extensively hospitalized or required surgery.
Many on the Square who rushed to the scene of the final collision commented that it was a miracle no pedestrians had been struck, and no one was killed.
People rush to the scene to help those involved in the accident.
Though this was good news, the mood at the scene of the accident was frantic, as one person was shouting for an ambulance like Lee, whose SUV had been struck while she was backing out of a parking spot in front of Sheffield’s Fowers, was a pregnant mother.
There was, however, no delay in the arrival of emergency services as both ABC Officer Junior Smith and the county Emergency Management Director Greg Cary were already on scene.
Smith said he turned on his emergency lights after Moore’s pickup collided with the first vehicle. Cary also had his lights going as he followed Smith, who was following Moor, around the square.
Witnesses said that Moore did not even appear conscious as the truck was rounding the square, and others reported that when he exited the truck, against Cary’s orders, he did not even realize he had been in a wreck, definitely not the several wrecks he had been a part of.
