I-40 reopens in Cheatham County after crash involving stolen police SUV

CHEATHAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The woman accused of stealing a Kingston Springs police cruiser from the scene of a house fire early Tuesday morning was injured after investigators say she crashed the vehicle on the interstate in Cheatham County.

Kingston Springs police said their officers responded to a house fire on Wax Wing Circle around 5 a.m. and found the homeowner standing outside in the cold, so they allowed her to sit in the back seat of a patrol car.

As officers were looking in the windows of the burning home to see if anyone was inside, they said the homeowner was somehow able to take control of the patrol vehicle and drive off.

An officer witnessed the stolen patrol vehicle crash through the guardrail of an Interstate 40 overpass near mile marker 185 around 5:30 a.m. The homeowner, who was driving the stolen cruiser was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, according to investigators.

In a statement, the Kingston Springs Police Department said, “we are thankful that no one else, including our officers were injured during this strange series of events.”

The incident remains under investigation.

Several lanes of the interstate were closed for more than an hour, but reopened around 7 a.m.