Charges Brought Against Brandy Smith In Daughter's Wreck Death

  • Sunday, October 22, 2000

The Tennessee Highway Patrol has brought criminal charges against a Rhea County woman in the traffic death of her three-year-old daughter.

Brandy L. Smith faces charges that include vehicular homicide, DUI, child endangerment, failure of the child safety seat restraint law and others.

Rescue crews tried for three hours to remove the child's body after the fiery one-car wreck Wednesday.

Officials said Ms. Smith did not have a driver's license with her and was driving on a suspended license for a failure to show up for court on a previous charge.

The fatal accident happened on Evensville Mountain.

Police say Ms. Smith was traveling west on Liberty Hill Road when she lost control of her vehicle. As the truck left the road, it flipped and exploded.

The three-year-old was thrown out of the vehicle and was crushed under the truck, authorities said.

The mother and another daughter were able to escape.

It was the second recent one-car wreck in which an unrestrained child was killed.

In response, highway authorities held a two-hour roadblock on Dayton Boulevard south of Highway 153 on Friday afternoon to check car seats and driver's licenses.

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