Smithville Police Officer Involved In Fatal Car Crash

A Smithville Police Officer was involved in a fatal head-on crash with another vehicle Monday night on Foster Road.
Sergeant Billy Prater of the Tennessee Highway Patrol says 34 year old Officer Callie Matthews was responding to a call around 10:30 p.m. traveling north on Foster Road in her 2001 Crown Victoria police car. According to statements given by witnesses and Officer Matthews, Sergeant Prater says she was traveling with the car’s emergency lights on and the siren off.
As she crested a hill, Sergeant Prater says Officer Matthews applied her brakes to the point of lock up, went into a skid, crossed the center of the street, and made head-on impact with a southbound 2001 Kia Rio, driven by 18 year old Andrew B. Ferris of Cooper Lane, Smithville.
Members of the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department’s Extrication Team were summoned to the scene to help cut Ferris out of his vehicle. He was transported by DeKalb EMS to DeKalb Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Officer Matthews and a passenger of the Kia Rio, 21 year old Brian A. Webber of West Main Street, Smithville were removed from their vehicles and taken by EMS to the parking lot of the Calvary Baptist Church, where they were airlifted by a Life Force helicopter ambulance and flown to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga.
Sergeant Prater says Officer Matthews is stable while Webber remains in critical condition at Erlanger Hospital.
The crash remains under investigation by the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Critical Incident Response Team.
Sergeant Prater says there was no evidence of alcohol. He says Officer Matthews was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash, but Ferris and Webber were unrestrained.
Smithville Police Chief Thomas J. Stufano says “The City of Smithville would like to extend our deepest condolences and prayers to all of the victims and families”
Chief Stufano says Officer Matthews was responding to a dispatched “prowler” call in the area of Dry Creek Road and Foster Road when the accident occurred.