SUV loses control, jumps car

A Smithville man appears to have escaped serious injury after his SUV went airborne, jumped another car, and was spun around Wednesday night on Smithville Highway.

Jeremy Lockridge, 33, was airlifted from the scene in front of Delores? Market after losing control of his 2007 Chevy Blazer. According to highway patrolman Gary Myers, Lockridge will be charged with DUI and reckless endangerment.

?We?ll be picking him up and taking him to jail when he?s released from Erlanger,? said Myers.

The wreck happened around 7 p.m. when Lockridge was traveling toward Smithville on Highway 56. He lost control of his Blazer, went off the right side of the road and drove through grass before his vehicle jumped an embankment.

Charles Hale III was stopped at a stop sign on Grizzle Road, which intersects with Smithville Highway at Delores? Market. Hale watched as Lockridge?s SUV soared over the hood of his car and shattered his windshield.

?I saw him coming and knew he was going to hit me,? said Hale. ?But there was nothing I could do to get out of the way in time.?

Fortunately for Hale, the Blazer caught enough air to only clip his 1995 Lincoln Continental. The impact spun the Blazer around before it came to rest in a ditch facing the opposite direction.

The force of the crash was enough to throw Lockridge from the driver?s seat out the back of the Blazer. He was not wearing a seat belt. When paramedics arrived, he was half in and half out of his vehicle.

Hale received some scratches but was otherwise not injured. He declined to be transported to the hospital.