WSMV Channel 4 Burning wreck looked like parked car, says fired trooper

Burning wreck looked like parked car, says fired trooper

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee state trooper, fired after he failed to stop at a crash that killed a driver, said it looked like a parked car to him.

Tennessee Highway Patrol records, obtained by The Knoxville News Sentinel under an Open Records Act request, detail what Charles Van Morgan told THP investigators about the Nov. 26 crash that killed Gordon Kyle Anito in Knox County.

The records detail an interview with Morgan, who told superiors that "tunnel vision" and stress figured into him driving past the crash site after a high-speed chase of Anito's car in the early morning hours. The car struck a tree and burned with the 20-year-old Anito still inside it.

A medical examiner concluded Anito died from the impact.

Morgan is appealing his firing.

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel

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