Beloved TN EMS Donnie Surber ID’d As Victim In Thursday Fatal Head-On Chapman Highway Crash

KNOXVILLE, TN. (THECOUNT) — Donnie Lee Surber, of Seymour, Tennessee, has been identified as the veteran Tennessee paramedic killed in head-on collision along Chapman Highway early Thursday. Charged are pending in the crash.

Surber, 48, died following a crash caused by an oncoming car, driven by 28-year-old Isaac John Lynn, who crossed centerlines and struck his southbound Toyota Sequoia SUV near Tipton Station Road in South Knox County shortly after 4 a.m., according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol crash report.

Surber was pronounced dead at the scene of multiple blunt force trauma injuries.

A crash report noted the victim was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the violent collision.

Lynn, of Rockford, Tennessee, had to be extricated from his vehicle by emergency responders, according to the report.

He was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. His condition was not immediately available Friday, reports KnoxNews.

The investigating trooper found evidence Lynn was under the influence of alcohol and an unspecified drug at the time of the crash, the report states.

Surber had more than 20 years of experience with various emergency services agencies across the region, including work as a flight paramedic with Air Evac Lifeteam 88, based in Harlan, Kentucky. More recently, he served on a part-time basis with Sevier County EMS.

Geo quick facts: Seymour is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Blount and Sevier counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The CDP population was 10,919 at the 2010 U.S. census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area – Wikipedia.