Accident victims thrown from bed of pickup truck

Sheriff Randall Boyce, left, inspects the bed of the truck from which two persons were thrown Wednesday mornimg. The victims landed in the ditch at right. (T-G Photo by David Melson)

A woman was killed and a child seriously injured when they were thrown from the bed of an out-of-control pickup truck Wednesday morning north of Shelbyville.

Lori Mooningham, 26, of Farmington, was dead at the scene, State Trooper Patrick Turner said. Mooningham's body had come to rest in a ditch along the side of Fairfield Pike.

A juvenile, whose name and age Turner would not release, was also thrown from the truck, authorities said. The child was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville with critical injuries, Turner said.

The truck's driver, David Wisdom, 47, of Shelbyville, was not injured, according to Turner.

Authorities were notified of the accident, which occurred about a half-mile north of the Mink Slide Road intersection, at about 11 a.m.

"Wisdom was traveling southbound on Fairfield Pike and lost control, ran off the road and hit several trees," Turner said. "The impact with the trees caused the victims to be thrown off the back of the truck."

The bed of the small Isuzu pickup truck was loaded beyond the top of the fenders, even following the impact, with piles of clothing and furniture. Relatively small dents lined the right side of the truck where it had hit the row of trees just off the shoulder of the narrow road.

The truck came to rest, in drivable condition, on the roadway. A flatbed trailer being towed behind the truck was torn to pieces, with its parts, along with clothing and household items which had also been on the trailer, scattered along the roadway and in the ditch for some distance.

"No speeding was involved," Turner said when asked what may have caused Wisdom to lose control. "He passed DUI tests at the scene. A blood test was taken."