BREAKING: THP releases preliminary details of Interstate 81 crash in Greene County

Three drivers were injured in a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 81 in Greene County Tuesday afternoon that forced the shutdown of all northbound lanes for several hours.

Preliminary information supplied by the Tennessee Highway Patrol says Daryll Packer, 56, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, pulled his large commercial vehicle into the path of a car driven by Ronald Forsyth, 57, of Woodbury, New Jersey.

Forsyth’s vehicle crashed into the back of Packer’s hauler causing it to burst into flames in the middle of the interstate near the Baileyton exit.

The impact also sent the 18-wheeler and a tow truck driven by D Honeycutt, 50, of Chuckey, into the wood line off the roadway.

All three were transported to area hospitals.

TDOT established detour routes around Baileyton for cleanup and an investigation by the THP.

(IMAGE: Tennessee Department of Transportation – Region 1 / M. Nagi)