July 4 victim says driver hit two vehicles, stopped twice, continued backing—then ‘floored it’

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10:27 p.m.

One of the victims in the July 4 parking lot crash in Oak Ridge said the driver charged with homicide and aggravated assault hit a Thunderbird, stopped, slowly continued backing, hit a van, stopped, and then slowly continued backing—and then he “floored it.”

“Then, he came toward us,” victim Michael Eldridge testified during a bond hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on Tuesday.

The bond hearing was for Lee Cromwell, the 65-year-old driver accused of causing the fatal crash. Cromwell has been charged with homicide and aggravated assault, among other charges.

The crash killed James Robinson, 37, of Knoxville, who was watching fireworks with his wife and two daughters, and it injured 11 other people. 

Eldridge and his wife were sitting on the tailgate of their Ford F150 pickup truck when the crash occurred just after fireworks at about 10:23 p.m. Saturday, July 4.

“He floored his truck and came toward me and my wife,” Eldridge said. “I told my wife, ‘Honey, he’s going to hit us,” so I turned to her to protect her because I thought he was going to come up into our truck.”

He said Cromwell’s truck hit his truck and “threw me for a flip against…the back part of the cab.” The tail light of Cromwell’s truck hit Eldridge’s left knee and caused lacerations and deep bruises to the bone and muscle. Eldridge said the crash hurt his back and hip also.

When he “came to,” Eldridge said, all kinds of people were around. Cromwell was in his truck, apparently still talking on his cell phone, and it sounded like he was revving the motor, Eldridge said.

He said Cromwell stuck his head out the window and yelled that his accelerator pedal was stuck, but he did not get out to check on anyone or ask about them.

Cromwell initially told police that night that he would remain silent, but then “spontaneously uttered that his vehicle’s throttle stuck and that he simply lost control of his vehicle,” according to arrest warrants filed last week.

In those warrants, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Ben Higgins said Cromwell’s Dodge Ram 1500 truck was taken to be evaluated at Secret City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, and a mechanic found nothing wrong in the throttle body, “meaning the throttle had not malfunctioned.” Also, there are no active recalls that would have affected the throttle, Higgins said.

Eldridge and his wife were parked near the front entrance to the Midtown Community Center, which is on Robertsville Road and across the street from the fireworks display at A.K. Bissell Park.

See a video of part of Eldridge’s testimony here:

 

 

 

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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