UTC Students Involved In Crash, Families Begin Long Recovery (2024)

KINGSPORT - A traffic accident can happen in an instant, but when the crash is serious, the effects of that instant can linger for a lifetime.

Perhaps no one knows this better than the families of three Kingsport girls who were involved in a Nov. 17 crash near the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where they were attending school.

"Just getting up every day is hard," said Sarah Bogan, whose 18-year-old daughter, Vanessa Free, was killed in the crash. "I don't believe I'll ever get over it," she said.

Vanessa and four of her friends were leaving campus at about midnight that Sunday in a 1998 Saturn driven by Renee Krueger, 18, of Franklin, Tenn., when a police car on an emergency call driven by Officer Matthew Vandergriff ran a red light and struck the girls' car in the front passenger side.

Vanessa, who was riding in the front passenger seat, was killed instantly, Chattanooga police said.

Kingsport native Adrienne Teague, 18, was also riding in the Saturn and is the only passenger who remembers the whole incident clearly.

"We were sitting at a red light at the intersection of Douglas Street and (Martin Luther King Boulevard)," she recalls. "Our light had just turned green and the driver, who was Renee Krueger, eased out into the intersection. We were possibly right in the middle, and then we all looked to our right and the cop car came and hit us on the passenger side of the vehicle."

According to the girls in the Saturn, Vandergriff's was the second car to go through the intersection. Adrienne said she saw a first police car go by when their light was still red. "It went by really fast, and it startled us," she said. "Renee took her time after that happened."

"I guess we just didn't think anything about a second car," she said.

Adrienne's injuries in the crash were minor, but all the other girls sustained serious injuries. Kingsport native Jessica Watts, 19, suffered three pelvic fractures and neck injuries. Jessica said Renee also had three pelvic fractures, and the other passenger, Leticia Skae, 18, of Nashville, suffered a broken arm and leg.

"Given the circ*mstances of the accident, we're fortunate it wasn't even worse," said Jessica's mother, Mary Watts.

Adrienne said she didn't realize the severity of the crash until she was told that Vanessa had been killed.

"I really didn't think that the wreck was as bad as it was," she said.

When she received the news of Vanessa's death, Adrienne was shocked.

"It was just unbelievable," she said. "This person that I had gone to school with for two years in high school, that I had sung with, that I was in the band with, someone who lived right above me in college, the person who took me to Wal-Mart when I needed to go."

"Everything that she had done for me ran through my head, and then I realized that she wasn't going to be there anymore," said Adrienne.

Road to recovery

The girls who survived have had their share of hardships to face. Recovery has been a slow and often frustrating process.

"It's hard when you can't do things for yourself,'' Jessica said in November, shortly after returning to Kingsport from a Chattanooga hospital.

"I hate that this has disrupted (Jessica's) life," her mother said sympathetically.

"When she was still in the hospital, she said, ‘This is my first year of real independence, and now this happens and I'm totally dependent on you again,'" Mary Watts said.

Now, Jessica and the other girls are discovering that recovery from their physical wounds is in many ways easier than dealing with the emotional stress of the crash.

"It's a lot to deal with," Adrienne said. "Losing a friend, and knowing that all of my other friends who were in the car are having difficulties themselves."

And as they recover and return to school, they must face the reality that Vanessa won't be there.

"I know she had a lot of plans for her future," Jessica said. "She talked about a lot of things she wanted to do, and I know that she won't be able to do that now."

Vanessa's parents described her as a talented and outgoing young lady, with an impressive gift for singing.

"At one time she wanted to be on Broadway," said her stepfather, Richard Bogan. "Another time she wanted to teach music."

"I think we each in our own way kind of dreamed dreams that we were going to see her sing in some major way in her lifetime," he said. "Maybe not right away, but eventually. And even if that never happened, she would certainly be singing to God in some church."

Police investigation

Losing Vanessa is difficult for everyone involved, but the fact that the wreck involved a police officer makes the whole situation even harder.

"If we got hit by anybody at that particular time on that particular night, it should have been a drunk driver," said Adrienne, "because then there would have been an excuse."

Investigators have not yet determined who was at fault in the crash, but Chattanooga police said they are conducting an extensive investigation.

Ed Buice, public information officer for the Chattanooga Police Department, said the investigation could take months to complete.

"Science takes time," he explained. He said that, among other things, the vehicles will be examined to determine the force and direction of impact, and skid marks will also be analyzed.

Adrienne said she was told that both the Saturn and the police car were equipped with "black boxes" - similar to those found in aircraft - that record vehicle information including speed, impact and use of seat belts.

"They sent both of those off, and they were supposed to be back within four weeks," Adrienne said.

One key fact investigators will search for is whether the officer's emergency lights and sirens were in use when the crash occurred.

Initial reports from the Chattanooga Police Department indicated that Vandergriff had both his lights and sirens operating when he entered the intersection, but Adrienne said she does not remember hearing a siren when the crash occurred.

"(The police) came, and they asked for a statement in the hospital," she said. "Their general question was, ‘Did he have on his emergency lights and siren?' and I said, ‘It was just his lights.' And they asked me, ‘There was no siren?' and I said, ‘Yes, there was no siren.'"

The issue of whether the officer was using a siren is important not only to the legality of the crash investigation, but also to the parents' and victims' peace of mind.

Richard Bogan said that every time he's seen an emergency vehicle approaching an intersection in Kingsport, "the siren goes on and the speed drops dramatically."

"They go through that intersection as slow as they need to go through it to get through it safely," he said. "I don't think that's what happened (in Chattanooga)."

"We don't know if that's a state procedure or local, but it's a common-sense procedure to slow down," Sarah Bogan said.

In fact, according to the Tennessee Code Section 55-8-108, emergency vehicles are required by law to slow down at intersections.

That section states that emergency vehicles "may proceed past a red or stop signal or stop sign, but only after slowing down as may be necessary for safe operation."

The law also states that in order for the emergency vehicle to legally pass through a red light (even after slowing down), it must be "making use of audible and visual signals meeting the requirements of the applicable laws of this state."

The "audible and visual signals" the law refers to are the lights and sirens normally associated with emergency vehicles.

Lawsuit filed

The Bogans believe the officer was not doing everything possible to avoid an accident the night their daughter was killed.

"We believe that the police department was at fault," Richard Bogan said.

The family has filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the Chattanooga Police Department.

"The lawsuit is filed as a wrongful death," said Richard Bogan.

Chattanooga police declined to comment on the Bogans' legal action.

"We are withholding comment until the legal adviser for the police department as well as the city attorneys office have had a chance to review the lawsuit," said Buice.

Regardless of the legal outcome of the situation, the incident itself will continue to affect the lives of those involved.

Adrienne said the wreck has changed the way she drives every day.

"At intersections, when the light turns green, it takes me a few seconds to ease out because I check three or four times to make sure there's no car coming through," she said. "I try to be more cautious about what other drivers are doing 200 feet up the road as well as right in front of me."

The Bogans' lives have perhaps been changed the most by the incident.

"It's the hardest thing in the world," Sarah said. "We can't have her back. We have videos of her singing, which will maybe help someday, but there's just a hole in my heart right now."