Murfreesboro Post
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Deputy tries to save Riverdale graduate in crash




A sheriff’s deputy tried to save the life of a passenger critically injured when she was ejected from a car Sunday off U.S. Highway 70 South (John Bragg Highway), a state trooper said. Katie Martin, 18, of Haint Hollow Road died of injuries suffered in the one-vehicle crash about 11:30 p.m. near the B&W Market close to the Rutherford-Cannon county line, said Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Michael Marvin. Martin was a Riverdale High School graduate. Deputy Larry McMahan was checking the market when he heard the sounds of the crash. “He actually saw it happen and started CPR on her,” Marvin said. Martin died before the ambulance left the scene. She was riding with driver Shaun Talbot, 18, of Pavilion Court who drove a Hyundai car. The car traveled off the highway and back onto the roadway before striking a guardrail, the trooper said. The car rolled over the guardrail and traveled down a steep ravine. Talbot suffered minor injuries, Marvin said. He was treated at Middle Tennessee Medical Center where a routine blood-alcohol test was taken. “We are working it as a vehicular homicide because of speed,” Marvin said. “Definitely speed was involved.” She was the second person to die from a crash Sunday on John Bragg Highway. THP Sgt. Rick Smith said motorcycle passenger Jan Rice Thomas, 52, of Cedar Point, Tenn., died Sunday afternoon when a car pulled in the path, causing the motorcycle to strike the car about 12:52 p.m. at Double Springs Road. Martin was the 22nd traffic fatality this year in Rutherford County.

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