Trooper Butch Reeves, 45, directs traffic away from a motorist with a flat tire on an entrance ramp to State Highway 28 in Marion County. The Tennessee Highway Patrolman has been on the force for 10 years.The final report on the crash involving a Tennessee state trooper that killed a Ringgold, Ga., man in April should be turned over to 12th Judicial District Attorney Mike Taylor early this week.
Taylor said Friday that Tennessee Highway Patrol investigators had another couple of pieces of information to wrap up and that he expects a final report as soon as Tuesday.
Jim Garner, 66, was killed April 23 when trooper Clyde “Butch” Reeves’ patrol vehicle crashed into Garner’s motorcycle and possibly one or more other vehicles traveling east on the Interstate 24 bridge over Nickajack Lake, authorities said.
Reeves is an experienced officer with several years of THP service, Assistant District Attorney Dave McGovern said at the beginning of the investigation. According to a Times Free Press interview in 2009, Reeves went to work with the highway patrol around 1999.
State Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons said in a statement after the crash that the department was “saddened by the tragedy” that occurred in Marion County.