A wrong-way driver and a Tennessee state trooper chasing another car on the interstate led to a wreck that left seven people injured, including a 2-year-old in critical condition.
The wreck happened on Interstate 40 West near the Stewart's Ferry Pike exit just before 10:30 p.m. July 25. The crash drew heavy police response from both the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Metro Nashville Police Department.
Nashville Police directed traffic while highway patrol investigated the wreck, a spokesperson for the police department said.
A preliminary report, released to the Tennessean July 28, said a 2024 Honda CR-V, driven by a 38-year-old Timoteo Trujillo-Diaz, with 25-year-old and 30-year-old passengers, was driving the wrong way in the westbound lanes
of I-40. At the same time, a 2024 Buick Encore, driven by a 35-year-old woman with a 2-year-old and 7-year-old, was headed in the correct direction on the interstate.
The two vehicles collided head-on, the report said, and stopped blocking the roadway.
State Trooper Cody Shanabarger, 36, was also westbound on I-40, chasing another car, the report said. Moments after the head-on crash, Shanabarger came upon the wrecked cars.
He swerved "in an attempt to avoid the crashed vehicles and struck vehicle 1," the report said referring to the Honda. Shanabarger's patrol vehicle then veered off the right side of the road and stopped in the grass.
The Honda, after it was hit by the state trooper's car, was pushed into the left lane of the interstate.
Trujillo-Diaz was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence, four counts of felony reckless endangerment and four counts of felony vehicular assault.
"I could smell the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person," the arrest affidavit for the Trujillo-Diaz said.
The 2-year-old in the Buick was rushed to Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt for treatment of traumatic brain and neck injuries, the arrest affidavit said.
"She also had to have a spinal realignment surgery," the affidavit said.
The other child had severe internal and external bruising, the affidavit said.
Trujillo-Diaz's 25-year-old passenger had to have surgery on her ankle. She also had internal injuries, the affidavit said. The 30-year-old passenger was also taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and had three major surgeries for multiple broken bones and internal bleeding, the affidavit said.
Court records did not detail the extent of the state trooper's injuries and the Tennessee Highway Patrol said they do not "provide specific details on injuries."
Trujillo-Diaz was being held on a $122,000 bond at the Downtown Detention Center.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Wrong-way driver, state trooper chase ends with seven injured in Nashville crash
