A McMinnville man has been sentenced in DeKalb County criminal court for his involvement in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 56 last year.
Michael McKinley, 23, entered a plea by information before Judge Gary McKenzie to one count of vehicular assault. He was given a four-year sentence, all suspended to time served. The term will run consecutive to a sentence against him in Warren County.
According to trooper Bobby Johnson of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, McKinley was traveling north near Evins Mill Nursery in a 1997 Ford F150 when he left the roadway on the right side and overcorrected, causing the truck to cross the center line and crash into a southbound 1977 Ford pickup, driven by 43-year-old Timmy Hendrixson of Smithville. Hendrixson was ejected during the collision, while McKinley had to be removed from his vehicle by members of the DeKalb County Fire Department extrication team.
Both men, as well as a 17-year-old McMinnville boy who was McKinley’s passenger, were seriously injured in the crash. The trooper said DeKalb EMS took Hendrixson to Cookeville Regional Medical Center. McKinley was transported by ground to Vanderbilt Medical Center after the pilot who had been called to airlift him fell and injured himself in the parking lot of DeKalb Community Hospital.
The juvenile was transported by DeKalb EMS to Smithville Municipal Airport, where he was airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga.