Car runs off Highway 170, hits center
Anderson County EMS personnel work to free a driver after a car crashed into a column at the Claxton Community Center on Friday, Sept. 4. (photo:Tony Cox )
A car drove through a column at the Claxton Community Center on Friday, Sept. 4.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported the Volkswagen Jetta was traveling westbound on Highway 170 when it ran off the roadway to the left.
It traveled down an embankment, through a field and crashed into the building at 1150 Edgemoor Road.
The Jetta knocked over one of the center’s pillars before coming to what THP called an “uncontrolled final rest.”
Nathan Sweet, director Anderson County Emergency Medical Services, told The Courier News that ACEMS responded to the accident at around 10:10 a.m.
ACEMS transported one patient, the driver, who Sweet said was in critical condition. He declined to comment further.
Rusty Queener with the Anderson County Rescue Squad was also on site and confirmed these details.
He said a medical emergency for the driver was possibly the accident’s cause. He said the squad used its training to get her out of her car.
The vehicle, he said, sustained severe front end damage.
The column fell onto the porch and into a flowerbed.
Chuck Chandler, president of the Optimist Club of Claxton, which uses the building stated the three other columns were holding up the portico roof and the crash did not damage any other part of the building. All repairs, he said, would need to go through Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the building.
“I just pray that the woman is alright,” he told The Courier News regarding the driver.
Shain Vowell with Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said THP was investigating the accident and directed questions to them.
