Five injured, 9-year-old ejected in Christmas Eve crash

Dec. 28– Five people were injured, including a child who was ejected in a head-on Christmas Eve crash near Saltillo that remains under investigation, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Trooper Gerald Hardin said Tuesday that Stephanie Eason, 30, of Bartlett, Tenn., was driving a 1999 Jeep east on Tenn. 69-N., about two-tenths of a mile west of the Saltillo city limit. Joshua Hollinsworth, also in his 30s, of Saltillo, was driving a 1990 Toyota Corolla west on the highway.

Preliminary reports indicate the Corolla was weaving and collided with the Jeep in the middle of the road at 11:15 a.m.

Hardin said Hollinsworth’s vehicle continued west across a field road, flipped and landed on its wheels. Eason’s vehicle, with four occupants, went off the south side of the highway into a ditch, the undercarriage and a side torn off from the impact with the Toyota.

Eason, and Hayden Hughes, 9, who was thrown from the Jeep, were both airlifted to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. Hollinsworth and two passengers in Eason’s vehicle were transported by ambulance to Hardin Medical Center, he said.

The investigation thus far does not show drugs or alcohol were a factor, the trooper said.