WHITE PINE, Tenn. — A truck driver has been arrested after authorities say he struck a fellow trucker with his rig at a Tennessee truck stop and fled the scene.
According to a news release from the White Pine Police Department, 70-year-old John R. Emery Jr. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was arrested on Feb. 2 and booked into the Jefferson County Jail in White Pine.
He’s being charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death or injury.
The report says that the incident happened on Jan. 12 at the Pilot Travel Center in White Pine.
The victim, Gary M. Clark, 64, of Prattville, Alabama, was run over in the back parking lot of the travel center near the fuel island at approximately 6 p.m., police said.
“The investigation showed that the truck that struck Mr. Clark was pulling into the fuel island, striking him with the front passenger side of the truck,” according to the news release. “The driver of that truck did not purchase fuel but did go inside the store, purchase several items from the store, leave the store approximately 20 minutes later and get back into his truck.”
According to the news release, other drivers notified Emery that someone had been run over behind his rig and that he needed to stay at the scene.
“He decided to leave the parking lot and head south of Interstate 81,” the news release states.
On. Jan. 14, investigators identified the truck that fled the scene, learning that it was operated by Emery.
The investigation is ongoing.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
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