4 teen classmates injured in Blount County wreck

Dale Starritt
Dale Starritt

Ryan Seymour
Caleb Simpson (source: Facebook)
Caleb Simpson
Dyllan Roulette (source: Facebook)
Dyllan Roulette

By MONA NAIR 6 News Reporter

MARYVILLE (WATE) - Two teens were airlifted Monday night from the scene of a single vehicle crash involving four Greenback School classmates in Maryville.

The four are: Dale Starritt, Ryan Seymour, Caleb Simpson and Dyllan Roulette.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol says the driver, Simpson, lost control of the Chevrolet Suburban and it ran off the road and rolled at the intersection of Calderwood Highway and Coker Road.

All four teens in the Suburban were ejected. None were wearing seat belts.

Two of the injured were airlifted to UT Medical Center due to the seriousness of their injuries.

Ryan Seymour's father, Richard, says his son is on life support and fighting for his life. Ryan's father has not slept since he got the call about the accident.

"He's not doing real well at all. I'd like to take this opportunity to have viewers pray for us. Please put him in your thoughts and prayers," said Richard Seymour as he stood in the lobby of the hospital.

Ryan is one of the main football players at the school.

With 25 stitches on his elbow, Dale Starritt is the lucky one. Starritt says Simpson and Roulette were taken in serious condition. Roulette has since been downgraded to stable.

"This is rough. This is really rough. I wish it was me," Starritt said.

Starritt admits they were not being responsible when the speeding Suburban ran off the road.

"We were trying to be stunt devils, trying to fishtail around the curve," said Starritt.

Starritt says he knew right after he climbed out of the wreckage that Ryan had been hurt the worst.

"I held him in my arms and told him that everything was going to be alright," said Starritt.

School staff members say they are pretty shaken up by the incident.


Four Greenback students seriously injured in Calderwood Highway wreck

By Mark Boxley and Matthew Stewart The Daily Times

Four Greenback high school students were seriously injured when the Chevrolet Suburban they were riding in flipped several times and ejected all of them in a single-vehicle accident on Calderwood Highway.

According to Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Randy Huckeby, the four were driving south on Calderwood Highway near the 6-mile marker about 6 p.m. Monday when they came around a curve and the vehicle went off the right-hand edge of the road. The driver of the vehicle tried to get back onto the roadway but reportedly lost control and the vehicle flipped four times and landed on its wheels. None of the four in the SUV were wearing seat belts and all were thrown from the vehicle, Huckeby said.

All four young men involved in the wreck — Ryan Seymour, 18, Caleb Simpson, 16, Dell Starritt, 15 and Dyllan Roulette, 16 — are students at Greenback School, according to teacher Melanie Shepherd.

Greenback School, which has about 700 students in pre-K-12, is still reeling from the wreck, Shepherd said. “When something happens to one family, it truly affects all of us. We’re trying to stay strong for each other.”

Two of the accident victims were flown by Lifestar helicopter to University of Tennessee Medical Center and the other two were taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to UT Medical Center. No information about their conditions was immediately available from the hospital.

Along with Huckeby, Trooper Joey Lindsay, the Blount County Fire Department and Blount County Sheiff’s Office responded to the accident.

Investigation into the wreck is ongoing.

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1/19/11