CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nearly 10 months after a crash sent a Jeep off I-24 and into the Red River in Clarksville, one of the drivers is now facing charges.
James Centers has been charged with several offenses, including vehicular homicide and reckless driving.
The crash happened in November 2025 near the Rossview Road exit. Authorities say Centers was driving along I-24 when his vehicle collided with a Jeep Wrangler driven by 52-year-old Michael Atzert.
Both vehicles went off the roadway. Centers’ vehicle came to a stop near the woods, while Atzert’s Jeep continued down an embankment and into the river.
Atzert was on his way to work as a helicopter pilot for Air Evac, an emergency air ambulance service.
Centers is scheduled to be arraigned next week.
September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”
- Rhori Johnston
