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Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11

88-year-old Harrison man says ‘clean living’ saved him from this Halloween horror

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A downed tree is seen on top of a car along Belvoir Avenue on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A downed tree is seen on top of a car along Belvoir Avenue on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A downed tree is seen on top of a car along Belvoir Avenue on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Today, a whatever-happened-to story.

Specifically, we wondered whatever happened to the person in this automobile after it was destroyed by a tree this fall.

It’s been almost two months now since 88-year-old Thomas Daugherty of Harrison had a sweetgum tree fall across his BMW roadster on his way to work.

Times Free Press photographer Cody Schmelter took photos of the smashed car, which was totaled in the accident. Looking at the photo, it’s hard to believe no one was seriously hurt.

But Daugherty said he is as fit as a fiddle now. He rode 80 miles on a bicycle just a few days ago, he said.