KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Updated story (4 p.m. Tuesday): The driver killed in a wrong-way crash on Middlebrook PIke late Sunday had a history of driving and alcohol-related offenses that dated to 1999, Knox County court records show.
Juan Ramirez Bonifacio, 48, of Rifle Range Road died when his westbound Honda collided head-on on Middlebrook Pike with an eastbound tractor-trailer owned by Eagle Transport of Rocky Mount, N.C. The crash happened near Third Creek Road.
Witnesses saw Bonifacio moments earlier speeding up and slowing down in the wrong lane of Middlebrook and had tried to warn him. A driver's video of the incident showed Bonifacio finally accelerating ahead until he struck the tractor-trailer cab.
Blood tests and an autopsy are being conducted to see what if any role alcohol may have played in the crash.
Bonifacio, who died at the scene, was driving on a suspended license, a Knoxville Police Department report shows. Court records indicate, in fact, that he'd picked up charges repeatedly for driving without a license since March 1999.
Police charged Bonifacio with several offenses in December 2017 including failure to use care, driving without a license and violating the financial responsibility law after being stopped on Interstate 40, records show.
Authorities also charged him with driving without a valid license in July 2006 after stopping him for speeding on Rifle Range Road.
In September 2005, he pleaded guilty to attempted vandalism after urinating in a police officer's cruiser, records show. He'd appeared intoxicated and smelled of alcohol when officers confronted him about 3 a.m. Sept. 20, 2005, at Papermill Road and Northshore Drive, according to records.
Police charged him in April 2003 with public intoxication after speaking with him at a park on South Gallaher View Road. The charge was late dismissed.
In February 2000, he was involved in a crash on Ben Alder Road and was found to have no driver's license, according to records. He also pleaded guilty to reckless driving in connection with the incident.
Bonifacio was charged in June 1999 with indecent exposure, but it's unclear what happened to the case, records indicate.
Authorities charged him in two incidents in March 1999, according to records.
On March 16, 1999, police stopped him on Highway 33 driving a vehicle with no taillights, according to records. He had no driver's license, according to records.
On March 7, 1999, he was charged with public intoxication after being found passed out in a Toyota at the intersection of Interstate 40 and Gallaher View Road. His speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot.
Updated Story (8:50 a.m.): The driver of a Honda that crashed into a tractor trailer late Sunday was pronounced dead on the scene, a news release from the Knoxville Police Department said Monday.
The driver of the 2002 Honda Civic was driving west in the eastbound lanes of Middlebrook Pike when it hit an Eagle Transport tractor-trailer just east of Third Creek Road around 10 p.m., KPD said.
Eagle Transport is a trucking company that transports petroleum products, according to its website. The truck that the Honda hit appeared to be a tanker.
KPD is withholding the name of the victim as it notifies their next of kin.
There were no other injuries in the crash, according to KPD.
Original Story (1:30 a.m.): Knoxville police are investigating after a vehicle driving the wrong way collided with a semi truck late Sunday night on South Middlebrook Pike.
According to Knox County dispatch, officers responded to the wreck just before 10 p.m. A sedan was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes when it collided with a fuel transport truck near the Frito-Lay plant.
The Knoxville Police Department and Knoxville Fire Department are working the crash. Officials have not released any information about the people involved.