UPDATED: Two injuried in three-vehicle crash on Corbin Bypass

West Knox and Corbin firefighters needed about 30 minutes to free one person trapped upside down in pick-up truck following a three-vehicle wreck on the Corbin By-Pass.

The wreck occurred about 1 p.m. Thursday just south of the intersection of the by-pass and U.S. 25E.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Jay Sowders said Lee Ann Carnes, 31, of Middlesboro, and Jonathan White, 49 of Gray, were taken to Baptist Regional Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.

Sowders said the wreck occurred when White crossed the center line in his Mercury Lynx, sideswiped the Ford Ranger pick-up truck in which Carnes was a passenger and then hit a Lincoln Continental driven by Michael Lester, 30 of Corbin. The collision caused the pick-up truck to overturn, while the Mercury and the Lincoln went over an embankment on the other side of the roadway.

The pick-up truck came to rest on the shoulder of the northbound lane. The driver, Thomas Carnes, 27, of Middlesboro, was uninjured and able to get out of the vehicle on his own.

Firefighters assisted White in exiting his vehicle, but he was able to walk back up the embankment to a waiting ambulance.
Sowders said White could not explain what caused him to cross the center-line. The roads were wet, but not slick, Sowders said.

“He said he didn’t remember anything,” Sowders said.

The road was closed to traffic in both directions for about an hour.

West Knox Fire Department, Corbin Fire Department, Kentucky State Police, Corbin Police Department and Knox County EMS responded to the scene.