A longtime Tullahoma City employee has died after a collision with a suspect vehicle involved in an early morning pursuit.
The incident happened shortly after midnight Thursday on South Jackson Street.
Officials confirmed the chase began in Manchester, about 12 miles northeast of Tullahoma, after deputies stopped two people, tentatively identified as 22-year-old Charleston Dakota Ortega of Rock Island and 21-year-old Kayla Brooke Hickey of McMinnville for a traffic violation.
Authorities said the passenger, Ortega, was attempting to hide from view of the deputy before the two suspects fled in the vehicle.
During the pursuit, the suspects’ vehicle, driven by Hickey, attempted to hit a deputy head-on at the Highway 41-55 intersection in Manchester.
Hickey's vehicle then struck a truck being driven by 66-year-old Joe Moon. The impact of the crash caused the truck to roll over and burst into flames.
Moon's sister, Brenda, confirmed to NewsChannel 5 that he was headed to the gym for a late-night workout at the time of the deadly collision.
He was 40-year employee of Tullahoma Parks and Recreation and had just retired.
The two suspects were taken into custody at the scene.
Ortega has been charged with vehicular homicide, firearm use in association with dangerous felonies, two counts of tampering with or fabricating evidence/destruction of evidence, three counts of schedule II drug violation along with a schedule IV drug violation, unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities, and manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance.
Hickey was charged with vehicular homicide, evading arrest, driving on revoked/suspended license, reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, schedule I, II, and IV drug violations, manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance, unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities, and unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon, illegal possession.
This was the second fatal police chase in the mid-state in the past two weeks.
Back in June, 28-year-old Jessica Campos was killed when a suspect fleeing police crashed into her car in Murfreesboro. That pursuit began in Manchester and has led to a $10 million lawsuit.
