A local woman was injured Friday afternoon when her car slammed into a tractor trailer on Manchester Highway in Morrison as she was driving the wrong way.
The woman, Mandolin Orr, 41, was rushed to Unity Medical Center in Manchester for treatment of her injuries following the crash that happened just after 2 p.m. in front of Prater’s BBQ on Manchester Highway. Warrants have been taken against her for the charge of drunk driving.
“She admitted to drinking and smoking marijuana,” said Highway Patrolman Josh Sparkman who worked the wreck. “There were multiple reports of her driving recklessly and nearly causing another wreck.”
Sparkman said the crash with the semi, driven by Christopher Evans, 36, of Murfreesboro, happened because Orr was driving on the wrong side of the road when she topped the hill in Morrison heading toward McMinnville. The trucker, who had picked up a load of flooring and was heading back to Manchester, saw Orr as she came over the hill on his side of the road.
“He got over, trying to avoid the oncoming vehicle,” Sparkman said, noting the woman had crossed over to the far right outbound lane, leaving the trucker no place to go.
The vehicles side-swiped one another, hitting on the passenger sides. Orr’s 1998 Ford Expedition came to rest in a ditch after hitting the semi hard enough to sheer one of its rear axles. Evans escaped injury.
Sparkman said Orr will be served with the drunk driving warrant once she is released from medical treatment. Her injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening.