Young driver, 15, collides with deputy – Officer was responding to emergency situation

The driver, Macy Broom, 15, had her learner?s permit and was being taught to drive by her mother who was in the SUV when she pulled into the path of the sheriff?s cruiser.

The deputy, Kevin Murphy, and the 15-year-old driver of the other vehicle, Macy Broom, were uninjured despite the fact both vehicles sustained heavy damage in a wreck one construction worker said he heard half a mile away.

?We could hear the siren and then, all of a sudden we heard a loud boom like there?d been an explosion,? said the man who had driven over to see the source of the loud crash.

The accident happened just after 10 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Oriole Drive and U.S. 70 Bypass as the veteran deputy was responding to a house fire call in the Centertown area.

According to Highway Patrolman Donnie Clark, who investigated the wreck, Murphy was traveling westbound toward the bypass exit ramp and was attempting to go through the intersection as the light changed to red.

Broom, who had been stopped on Oriole Drive, apparently did not see the officer approach with his lights and siren activated and pulled into the intersection when she received a green light. The two vehicles then collided, sheering away the front of the teen?s SUV and flattening the passenger side of Murphy?s cruiser. The impact sent the sheriff?s car sliding though the median and into the eastbound lane of the bypass where it sideswiped a vehicle stopped at the red light.

Clark noted the girl did have a learner?s permit and was being supervised by her mother who was a passenger in the vehicle as required by law.