By Don Jacobs, Knoxville News Sentinel (TN)
A University of Tennessee police officer was killed late Thursday night when a tractor-trailer rig came across Interstate 40 and slammed into the officer’s pickup truck as he drove home.
Benjamin Arthur Bohanan, 28, of New Market apparently died instantly in the 11:19 p.m. crash in the eastbound lanes of I-40 just east of the Broadway exit ramp, according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.
Bohanan leaves behind a wife and a 17-month-old daughter. He has been with the University of Tennessee Police Department for more than two years.
DeBusk said an empty tractor-trailer driven by Steven Qualls, 24, of Kingsport was westbound on I-40 when the rig went out of control. The rig crossed the grassy median and traveled into the eastbound lanes of I-40.
The rig’s impact with the truck was so ferocious it separated the body of the 1996 Ford F-150 truck from the chassis and carried the body of the pickup another 50 feet up an embankment and into the tree line alongside I-40, DeBusk said.
Another trucker eastbound on I-40 slammed on his brakes as he approached the wreckage blocking both lanes, causing his rig to jackknife, DeBusk said. A 1996 Mustang driven by Madlynn Ashton, 26, of Knoxville, then slammed into the trailer of that rig, becoming lodged underneath the trailer.
Qualls was treated and released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center. DeBusk said Ashton was walking after the crash and did not appear to suffer serious injury.
The driver of the eastbound rig that jackknifed, Kevin Goodwin, 36, of Mooresville, N.C., was not injured.
No charges have been filed in connection with the crash. DeBusk said when the investigation is completed, which could take several weeks, the results will be forwarded to the Knox County District Attorney’s Office for a determination of any charges. A blood test was conducted on Qualls.
Benjamin Bohanan is the son of retired KPD Specialist Arthur Bohanan. Arthur Bohanan retired in 2001 after 26 years with the department. He is internationally renowned for inventing a device to lift fingerprints from dead bodies, the process he developed to collect fingerprints from ancient documents and his work in retrieving victims after disasters around the world.
Investigation of the crashes forced police to close the downtown portion of eastbound I-40 until 9 a.m., DeBusk said. That left thousands of morning rush-hour motorists to take the 24th Street, 17th Street or Alcoa Highway exits to get to their downtown offices.
Traffic from southbound Interstate 275 seeking eastbound I-40 was diverted to westbound I-40 and then to Western Avenue.
DeBusk said eastbound through traffic on I-40 was directed onto Interstate 640 around the city.
“It created quite a backup in the west side of town,” DeBusk said.