Speeding truck crashes head-on into Jeep on Commerce Dr. L’field woman seriously injured.

jeep-2
jeep-2

A Leitchfield woman has been seriously injured after her vehicle was struck head-on by a speeding truck on Commerce Drive.

Wednesday night at approximately 10:55, Leitchfield Police Department Sgt. Keith Harrell and Detective Kevin Smith, Grayson County Sgt. Clay Boone and Deputies Erik Franklin and Caleb Owens, the Leitchfield Fire Department and EMS responded to the accident in the 500 block of Commerce Drive.

Upon arriving at the scene, police found that a 2017 Ford F150 truck, being driven by 20-year-old Zachary T. Beck, of Westview, was traveling east on Commerce Drive at a high rate of speed – he told police he was driving between 75 and 80 miles per hour in the 35 mph zone – when the truck got sideways in the roadway, with Beck overcorrecting and causing the truck to fishtail out of control.

The Ford then traveled between four and five feet into the opposite lane where Beck struck a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, being driven by 35-year-old Tamara K. Walker, of Leitchfield, head-on.

Walker was trapped inside the Jeep, as the high energy impact pushed the engine compartment partially into the passenger compartment. She was so enveloped by the vehicle that it took Leitchfield firefighters about 25 minutes to extract her with the jaws of life and other equipment.

Two juvenile passengers in the Jeep were evaluated by EMS personnel with one of the juvenile treated for scratches.

Walker was slated to be airlifted to a Louisville hospital but helicopters declined to fly due to weather. She was instead transported to Baptist Health Hardin by EMS.

Beck and his female passenger were transported by EMS to Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Police said the case will be presented to a Grayson County Grand Jury for possible indictment of Beck on multiple charges, including two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree assault (depending on the extent of the injuries suffered by Walker), speeding 35 or more over the limit, and reckless driving. Additional charges are possible.

Furthermore, Leitchfield police conducted a blood draw on Beck. Pending test results, he possibly faces a DUI charge as well.

The 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
The 2017 Ford F150
The enormous gouge mark left in the middle of the westbound lane by the high impact collision

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com