A Wednesday morning traffic accident injured two and backed up traffic for miles when two cars collided at the intersection of Milligan Highway and Highway 67.
The accident occurred around 10:15 a.m., blocking traffic in the eastbound lanes on Highway 67 coming into Elizabethton from Johnson City. Westbound traffic was limited to one lane while crews worked to help the injured and remove the wreckage.
Elizabethton Police Department Cpl. Doug Combs said Raymond Eugene Bowers, 53, 837 Lake Point Drive, Piney Flats, was driving his 2009 Nissan Altima west on Highway 67 when he struck a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban driven by Carolyn Hodge Milan, 67, 536 Jim Elliott Road, Elizabethton. Milan was turning east onto Highway 67 from Milligan Highway.
After impact, the Suburban flipped onto its side and the Nissan crossed the eastbound lanes and briefly caught fire.
“We had two witnesses who gave statements that the Altima ran the red light and then struck the Suburban,” Combs said. “(Bowers) denies it, but he was cited with failure to yield resulting in injury.”
Jack Cooper of Johnson City was one of the witnesses that first observed the crash. He was waiting at the intersection when the accident happened in front of him.
“I was sitting there at the red light, and he smashed into her and her car flipped over,” Cooper said.
Cooper said he ran to the vehicle to try to assist in getting Milan from the car but was cautioned by Elizabethton firefighters on the scene not to try to move her or the shake the vehicle.
“I was worried about her, so I hopped on the car to get her out,” he said. “I was talking to her, and she was crying. I tried to calm her down. She’s got God on her side because it could have been a lot worse.”
Bridget Solomon, Milan’s daughter, came to the scene to be with her mother. She spoke with Milan after she was removed from the vehicle.
“She seemed to be OK,” Solomon said. “She was bleeding and she has a heart condition so she was worried about that.”
Members of the Carter County Rescue Squad cut the top off of the Suburban to extricate Milan from her vehicle.
She was transported to Johnson City to be taken to a hospital. Responders on the scene were not certain which hospital she was taken to.
Bowers was transported by a private vehicle to the Sycamore Shoals Hospital emergency room. He is scheduled to appear in General Sessions Court Nov. 25.