Thursday, June 30, 2011
SHS Athlete Perishes In Mt. Pleasant Crash
Summertown and Mt. Pleasant High School athletes perished Wednesday and two other teens were critically injured, after becoming involved in a crash with an eighteen wheeler in the Mt. Pleasant area.
Mt Pleasant Police Chief Tommy Goetz reported that the crash occurred around 5:00 p.m. at the First Avenue/U.S. Highway 43 intersection in Mt. Pleasant.
SHS student Sarah Graham, 17, of Mt. Pleasant, was reportedly driving westbound on First Avenue in a BMW. She apparently failed to stop at the intersection, running into the path of an on-coming eighteen wheeler driven by Patrick Howard of Ciaro, Georgia.
Graham perished in the crash, as did passenger Kyle Tate, age 15, of Mt. Pleasant, who was a back seat passenger.
Passengers Paxton Gilbreath and Ronald Harris, both approximately 16 of Mt. Pleasant, were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for treatment. Thursday Harris was listed in critical condition, Gilbreath was stable.
Goetz said that a preliminary investigation has been completed and that it appears that drugs, alcohol and speed played no part in the crash.
Graham was a senior post/center on the Lady Eagles Varsity basketball team. Tate attended Mt. Pleasant High School where he was a member of the football team.
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