McMinn Co. deputy praised for heroic response to deadly crash after pursuit of stolen vehicle

From Local 3 News: McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy is commending the bravery and efforts of one of his deputies who went above and beyond while responding to a fatal car crash after a chase on Highway 68.

That crash happened shortly after Sweetwater Police lost sight of a "dangerous" suspect in a stolen truck on Friday, January 23.

Deputy Kelby Liner responded to the area when he heard about the chase and arrived at the scene shortly after the suspect crashed into oncoming traffic, Sheriff Guy stated:

“Deputy Liner’s body camera shows him immediately leap into action. He first deployed a pressurized water can, which by the way is a piece of equipment he purchased himself, and gave the Sweetwater Officer a fire extinguisher. Deputy Liner is also a trained volunteer firefighter, and he immediately began extinguishing the fire in the victim’s vehicle while directing others responders on what to do.”

When a local fire truck arrived, Liner took a hose from the truck himself and fought the blaze consuming both vehicles.

Sheriff Guy said he continued to show leadership by exposing himself to the risk of injury from fire and debris.

"He was finally able to extinguish the fire to a point that he was able to open the passenger door of the victims vehicle, and assisted by a Sweetwater Officer, Liner removed one of the victims from the fire so that life saving measures could be attempted by the firefighters who had responded. He then continued to battle the blaze and do all he could for [the] other two persons involved."

Everyone who saw Liner jump into action told Sheriff Guy about his bravery. "The words heroic and unbelievable were used several times," Guy said.

"One of the officers said it best, if anyone could have possibly been saved, the efforts of Deputy Liner would have made that possible. He did all he could, and then he did even more. Our deputies have done some very heroic things over the years, risking their lives in arrests, rescuing victims in two separate tornado incidents, but this was the single most act of brave effort I’ve ever seen."

Sheriff Guy said Liner will receive a commendation for his actions, and that his agency's thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those involved in the tragic incident.



PREVIOUS STORY: Three people were killed in a crash during a pursuit of a stolen truck near Sweetwater on Friday, January 23.

District Attorney General of the Tenth Judicial District, Stephen Hatchett, said  two people who died in the wreck were "innocent." His statement does not identify the suspect, who also died.

The Sweetwater Police Department's license plate reader reportedly detected a truck reported stolen out of Georgia. When officers tried to locate and stop it, the driver fled.

The driver successfully eluded Sweetwater officers, and apparently had eluded  Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers before, Hatchett said.

Officers received a call later about the suspect's truck running another vehicle out of the road and heading back through Sweetwater.

When they tried to stop the driver again, police say the truck almost struck one of the officers's cars. Officers again were unable to catch up as the driver fled out of sight on Highway 68.

As officers caught up, they came upon a wreck seemingly caused by the driver of the stolen truck crossing into the other lane of travel and hitting a van with two adult occupants head on.
Both vehicles caught fire. Sweetwater officers say they tried to extinguish the flames and get all three out of their cars.

They were able to remove one person from the van, but life-saving measures were unsuccessful. All three died on scene.

Hatchett says the driver of the stolen truck, who has still not been publicly identified, had an outstanding felony warrant out of Georgia, and investigators found a stolen firearm in the truck.

THP troopers are conducting a crash reconstruction investigation.

"My deepest condolences go out to the families and loved ones of the two innocent people killed by a criminal creating havoc in our community," Hatchett stated. "I am thankful no one else was injured by his violent actions."