LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – Two pedestrians were struck by vehicles on the four lane in La Follette about 13 hours and less than a mile apart in the same lane on Friday. A man died in the predawn accident while a woman is hospitalized from injuries sustained in the dusk mishap.

Rachael Cochran, 36, left the Family Dollar Store in the former IGA shopping center, crossed the four lane and went into the tobacco store, according to report from the La Follette Police Department. Then Cochran and her boyfriend, Darrell Delk, 38, went to cross back over the four lane. That’s when police say the bags Cochran was carrying ripped open spilling contents in the road. Cochran went out in the lane to retrieve her items. She was then hit by a Jacksboro bound vehicle in the right lane just after 7pm, the LPD report said.

A medical helicopter landed at the scene around 8pm temporarily shutting down the four lane. Cochran remains hospitalized this morning at a Knoxville hospital. Her condition is not being released.

LPD Officer James Farmer noticed that Delk was falling asleep while standing up beside the four lane. Farmer asked if he was OK, and he said that the woman just hit by a car was his girlfriend. Delk went on to say that he was just really tired and began picking up Christmas ornaments he had dropped in the road. After hearing his slurred speech seeing his unsteadiness Farmer questioned Delk if he was on any medication, and Delk allegedly replied that he had taken Suboxone.

Delk, of La Follette, was charged with public intoxication. Jail records indicate he has since been released from the Campbell County Jail.

In the other pedestrian incident on Friday, La Follette Police confirm that a Jacksboro man struck by a Campbell County School Bus at 5:41am Friday has died.

The accident occurred on the four lane on the Jacksboro bound side across from Stockyard BBQ. The victim was 33-year- old Justin “Cody” Huff. In the LPD report, it was noted that Huff was walking in the right lane when he was struck by the bus.

Huff passed away at 7:59am at the La Follette Medical Center, according to the report.

There were no students on the bus. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 11/08/2021-6AM)

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