A two-car collision in Bartlett Sunday afternoon killed two people and injured a Bartlett police officer.
Both Danny G. Floyd, 63, and Michelle D. Sloyan, 49, died from their injuries at Methodist North Hospital. The victims’ home towns had not been released as of press time on Tuesday.
Patrolman Lucas A. Hines, the officer in the wreck, suffered minor injuries.
The accident happened at 3:40 p.m. Sunday when the police car struck the right front fender of the car driven by Floyd near Applebee’s at the intersection of Stage Road and Bartlett Boulevard, according to assistant police chief Glen Williamson.
Hines was headed to assist another officer with a traffic situation.
Bartlett police captain Tina Schaber said the officer involved in the accident was eastbound on Stage while the civilians’ car was westbound, turning left to go south on Bartlett Boulevard.
Police have not determined the cause of the accident or released information on whether the officer was speeding.
There are conflicting statements on whether the officer was using his siren and flashing blue lights at the time, Williamson said.
The squad car’s dashboard video camera should clarify those details and give insight into the accident, Williamson said.
The impact damaged the camera, which will require work from IT specialists to extract the data over the next week or two, he said.
The accident investigation will include work by a traffic reconstructionist, whose work will include examination of the skid marks, traffic flow, vehicle damage, the dash cam video, the vehicles’ black boxes and other data.
Williamson said there are no other known videos of the accident. The intersection has optical sensors for traffic control, but those devices do not videotape the flow of traffic.
“Of course our thoughts and prayers are with the people involved,” he said. “It’s a situation that no-one wants to be involved in. We will gather all the information and get to the bottom of this.”
On Tuesday, it was announced that the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) took over the investigation into the crash.
