From WRIL -
Early Saturday morning July 13, 2019 a short time before 1:00am Claiborne County emergency service personnel and Tennessee Highway Patrol responded to a serious accident with injuries at the intersection of Forge Ridge Road and Patterson Road.
Once on scene the Tennessee Highway Patrol reports that they found a 2005 Chevrolet pickup truck with four occupants. The report goes on to state that the driver of the truck, identified as 22 year old Charles M. Gibbons of Miracle Kentucky, was traveling eastbound on Forge Ridge Rd at a high rate of speed and went off the left side of the roadway, running onto an embankment. At that point the truck went airborne and began to roll multiple times through the intersection coming to rest on it’s top off of the left side of the roadway.
An eyewitness first on scene tells WRIL that Gibbons, along with 18 year old Christian Helton and two juvenile occupants from Middlesboro, were trapped in the vehicle and had to be extricated. She tells us she tried to render aid to the passengers until emergency service personnel arrived. While the passengers had to be flown to UT Medical Center for treatment of their injuries, Gibbons unfortunately died on scene.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol report states that alcohol was a factor that lead to the crash and that none of the occupants were wearing their seatbelts.
The family of Charles Michael Gibbons will receive friends after 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at the Green Hills Funeral Home.
Graveside services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at the Cubbage Cemetery with Rev. Robert Lee presiding.