The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Tuesday, January 01, 2019 03:03 PM

Driver Faces Charges After Multi-Vehicle Crash in Kingsport Injures Two Elderly People

Kingsport police said the driver of a pickup — later identified as 24-year-old Skylar Hawk Sexton — was unfamiliar with the area and using a GPS to navigate when he turned into the parking lot.

Officer said he became confused and hopped a curb at a shopping center on Fort Henry Drive. Instead of hitting the brake, he allegedly hit the gas and lost control, hitting one car before jumping two more curbs and hit another car and two elderly pedestrians. Officers said that second vehicle hit the side of the shopping center, and Sexton's truck continued to hit a third vehicle before coming to a rest.

The two pedestrians, 88 and 80 years old, were critically injured and were taken to a local hospital. The man's hip was likely broken and officers said the woman had a head injury.

Officers conducted sobriety tests and arrested him. Sexton has been charged with two counts of reckless aggravated assault, driving under the influence and failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle.

Sexton has since been released form the Sullivan County Jail on $31,000 bond.