A TOTAL OF 16 PEOPLE WERE INJURED IN YESTERDAY’S THREE MULTI-VEHICLE WRECKS ON I-24 NEAR THE STATE LINE.

            CONTRARY TO INITIAL REPORTS, ALL THREE WRECKS WERE INSIDE OF THE KENTUCKY STATE LINE AND ALL WITHIN A 34-MINUTE WINDOW.

            THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE REPORT SAYS THE WORST INCIDENT HAPPENED AROUND FIVE MINUTES AFTER 8 O’CLOCK BETWEEN NEAR THE 91 MILE MARKER AND INJURED TEN PEOPLE.

            19-YEAR OLD MICHAEL DIAZ OF FORT CAMPBELL WAS STOPPED DUE TO A WRECK AHEAD AND A VEHICLE DRIVEN BY 36-YEAR OLD LYNDON BANMALLY OF OAK GROVE WAS STOPPED JUST BEHIND HIM.

            18-YEAR OLD JORDAN NEAL OF CLARKSVILLE WAS APPROACHING FROM BEHIND AND WASN’T ABLE TO STOP ON THE WET HIGHWAY, DESPITE SLAMMING APPLYING HIS BRAKES.

            NEAL AND HIS THREE JUVENILE PASSENGERS—LASHA THOMAS, SHANTRELL THOMAS AND CHANDLER SMITH WERE ALL INJURED AND TAKEN TO BLANCHFIELD ARMY COMMUNITY HOSPITAL.

            BANMALLY AND HIS PASSENGER—36-YEAR OLD NANCY BANMALLY ALSO WENT TO THE FORT CAMPBELL HOSPITAL AS DID DIAZ AND HIS THREE PASSENGERS—DEDRA DIAZ AND JUVENILES JOSHUA AND GABRIELLA DIAZ.

            A FIVE CAR PILE-UP AT JUST AHEAD OF THOSE CARS SENT 22-YEAR OLD GWEN TILL OF HOPKINSVILLE TO JENNIE STUART MEDICAL CENTER. THAT WRECK HAPPENED WHEN 20-YEAR OLD JOHN MCCOSH OF CLARKSVILLE DIDN’T NOTICE TRAFFIC WAS STOPPED AND SIDE-SWIPED SEVERAL VEHICLES IN A CURVE.

            THE FINAL WRECK INVOLVED TWO VEHICLES AROUND 6:40 PM JUST INSIDE THE KENTUCKY STATE LINE AND SENT 29-YEAR OLD BRANDI BOUCHER, 8-YEAR OLD STEVEN BOUCHER AND 6-YEAR OLD ALILA TOMES OF ILLINOIS TO GATEWAY MEDICAL CENTER FROM ONE VEHICLE.

            62-YEAR OLD FANNIE SMITH OF HOPKINSVILLE AND 66-YEAR OLD ESSIE GEE OF HOPKINSVILLE WERE INJURED IN ANOTHER VEHICLE AND WENT TO GATEWAY.

            IN ALL, TEN VEHICLES WERE INVOLVED IN THREE WRECKS IN A TWO MILE SPAN—SENDING 16 PEOPLE TO THREE SEPARATE HOSPITALS.

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