An 18 year old DeKalb County man died Thursday night at Vanderbilt Hospital from injuries he received in a one vehicle traffic accident Thursday afternoon on Bright Hill Road.
Dead is Matthew Bates of Page Drive, Smithville.
Sergeant Billy Prater of the Tennessee Highway Patrol says Bates was a passenger of a 1988 GMC Jimmy, driven by 18 year old Joshua Puckett of Four Seasons Road, Smithville. The accident occurred around 12:50 p.m. Thursday about four-tenths of a mile north of Hooper Road on Bright Hill Road.
Sergeant Prater says Puckett was driving toward town and was negotiating a curve when the vehicle ran off the right side of the roadway, began to rotate, traveled up a grass embankment, and then overturned. The vehicle came to rest in the west ditchline of Bright Hill Road facing south. Both Puckett and Bates were ejected. Neither was wearing a seatbelt.
Puckett and Bates were taken by DeKalb EMS from the scene to meet a Vandy Life Flight helicopter ambulance and were flown to Vanderbilt Hospital.
Sergeant Prater was assisted at the scene by Trooper Brian Raymond of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, EMS, and DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Fighters.
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