Dyer County Sheriff's deputies and Dyersburg Regional Medical Center Ambulance Service medics secured the location on Highway 104 East where the crash occurred and assisted the driver, who suffered internal injuries.

Wayne McKnight, a driver for S & S Trucking in Ripley, was hauling a loaded 53-foot trailer eastbound near the Gibson County line at about 3 a.m. when the accident occurred.

The elm tree limbs pierced the passenger side windshield, pulling the broken sheet of glass into the cab where McKnight was sitting. Other limbs stuck into the front grill of the Volvo cab, and the tree snapped off a mirror.

McKnight's rig traveled about 1,000 feet after the window was smashed before halting in the eastbound lane about a half-mile from the Dyer-Gibson county line.

A Tennessee Department of Transportation road crew works to lift and chainsaw the tree to remove the danger.

McKnight was treated at the scene and transported to Dyersburg Regional Medical Center with internal injuries, including a punctured lung.

The cab's front windshield sustained damage from the tree, which poked limbs into the driver's space in the cab. [Click to enlarge]

Dyer County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene at 3:20 a.m., the report said and closed the road. The ambulance arrived 14 minutes later at about the same time as a Tennessee Department of Transportation road crew.

The TDOT crew used a backhoe and chainsaw to cut down the tree and push the limbs off the right-of-way.

The tractor-trailer remained on the road until a wrecker could arrive, which could not happen until the Tennessee Highway Patrol made the scene. Due to the manpower shortage in Dyer County, a Lake County trooper was alerted and made the scene at 4:24 a.m. The westbound lane was opened shortly afterward.

A motorist at 2:59 a.m. had called about the tree in the roadway, noted dispatch records.