DICKSON

Law finds drug paraphernalia at fatal crash scene

Josh Arntz
jarntz@dicksonherald.com

A cigarette tossed out the window of a ’98 Cadillac Seville prompted a police chase last weekend that ended in two deaths and two motorists seriously injured.

Investigators reportedly found drug paraphernalia at the crash scene too.

Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe released Wednesday the incident report describing the Oct. 23 events that led to the pursuit of Christopher Marion Scott and Cherish Lynn Austin in the Cadillac.

Dickson County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Ingram tried to stop the tan Cadillac around 10 p.m. Oct. 23, the report noted, after the driver threw a lit cigarette out the window near the Highland Motel on Highway 70 East in Dickson.

The Cadillac traveled eastbound in the left lane in front of Ingram’s patrol car.

Driver complies, then speeds away

Ingram turned on the patrol car’s blue lights to make a traffic stop, the report stated; and the Cadillac driver appeared to comply, using his right turn signal, changing lanes and slowing down from approximately 50 mph to 40 mph.

Ingram alleged Scott then accelerated “to speeds above the posted speed limit,” and the pursuit began.

Ingram reported seeing the Cadillac drive in the opposite lane of travel and “jerk” around other cars to pass them, causing at least one vehicle “to almost run off the roadway.”

Ingram described Scott’s driving as “very erratic.”

Ingram also noted he never got close enough to read the Cadillac license plate number.

Ingram “topped 100 mph” in his patrol car, the report stated, but the Cadillac pulled away from him, traveling an “estimated 120 mph.”

Ingram kept the Cadillac’s tail lights in sight throughout “most of the chase,” but the car disappeared over the top of a hill approximately 1 mile east of the Montgomery Bell State Park entrance.

Seconds later Ingram crested the hill and saw “a large cloud of smoke” and vehicle debris in the road.

Ingram found the Cadillac and a 2005 Ford Mustang partly in a ditch on the left side of the road. The Cadillac was on fire, but Ingram extinguished it.

The crash scene was near the Highway 70 intersection with Jones Creek Road.

A male and female in the Cadillac were “partly ejected” from the vehicle, Ingram reported, and both were motionless and unresponsive. Law enforcement officials identified them as Scott, 41, of Dickson, and Austin, 38, of Bon Aqua.

Ingram reported that authorities “later discovered” that Austin had an active arrest warrant in the city of Dickson. The DCSO report did not list the charge on the warrant.

Drug paraphernalia found

Ingram and Field Training Officer Sarah McCartney looked through crash debris for identification of the two Cadillac occupants, and reportedly found a female’s wallet outside the Cadillac.

Ingram alleged the wallet contained “what appeared to be a glass pipe used for smoking Methamphetamine and a cut straw.”

Next to the wallet were approximately three syringes “that are commonly used to shoot illegal drugs intravenously,” Ingram reported.

Crash victims

Ingram described the driver and passenger in the wrecked Mustang as conscious and alert at the scene.

The Mustang driver was identified as Thomas Heath Hensley, 29, of Charlotte, and the passenger as Charles Daniel Myatt, 29, of Dickson.

Scott crossed the center line in the Cadillac and flipped the vehicle, according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol report, striking the Mustang which traveled westbound.

Hensley crawled out the Mustang’s driver side window, Ingram noted, but Myatt was pinned inside and had to be extricated. Both were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center via LifeFlight.

As of press time, Hensley was in stable condition and Myatt in critical but stable condition at VUMC.

GoFundMe.com fundraising accounts were set up online to help Hensley and Myatt cover their medical expenses. The accounts are labeled “Help Heal Heath” and “Daniel Myatt Medical expenses”.

The Cadillac struck the Mustang in the rear, causing the Mustang to crash into the front of a 2011 Chevy Avalanche with three occupants who were uninjured.

The Avalanche then crashed into the driver side of a 2000 Ford F250 with two occupants who were uninjured.