A man is dead and a woman is in the hospital after their cars collided head-on shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon in McMinn County.
According to a preliminary report provided by the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Sherry Mason, 45, was driving north on Highway 11 in a Jeep Cherokee when she dropped a cigarette.
She told EMS that as she reached for the cigarette, she swerved into the path of a G35 Infiniti traveling in the opposite direction.
The driver of that vehicle, Michael Thornburg, 25, sustained fatal injuries and died on scene.
Mason was airlifted and taken to Erlanger where she underwent emergency surgery. There is no word from authorities on her condition.