A Nashville-area pedestrian is fighting for her life after a driver struck her motorized wheelchair while she was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk on Monday afternoon. The crash, which happened in Madison, Tennessee, led to the arrest of an out-of-state driver who told police she had looked down at her GPS just before the collision.
Metro Nashville Police Department officers were called to the intersection of Gallatin Pike South and East Palestine Avenue around 2 p.m. When they arrived, they found a woman with serious injuries after she was hit by a vehicle while crossing Gallatin Pike South in her wheelchair. She was rushed to TriStar Skyline Medical Center and listed in critical condition.
According to an arrest affidavit, 31-year-old Katelyn Rountree was making a left turn from East Palestine Avenue onto Gallatin Pike when she took her eyes off the road to check her GPS. She told officers she simply did not see the woman in the wheelchair.
Surveillance footage from the scene told a different story of how avoidable the crash was. The video shows the woman crossing within the designated crosswalk area with the pedestrian walk signal actively flashing in her favor. She was where she was supposed to be, doing everything right.
Rountree was taken into custody at the scene and booked on a failure to yield charge. Officers noted she is not a Tennessee resident. Court records show she is scheduled to appear in court on April 17.
Gallatin Pike was temporarily shut down Monday afternoon while police investigated the scene.