Woman turns in son on sex case and other news from areas around Chattanooga

Friday, January 1, 1904

Woman turns in son on sex case

DALTON, Ga. - Police in Dalton say a woman turned in her own son on claims he had sex with an underage girl. That man is now charged with a sex offense.

According to the Rome News-Tribune, a police report states 20-year-old Terrance Turner, his mother and a sibling were staying with another family in the North Georgia city.

The report said Turner's mother called police to report her son had sex with a juvenile girl living at the house. The newspaper didn't identify the mother by name.

Turner is charged with child molestation, solicitation and sexual battery against a child younger than 16.

In the police report, Turner said he laid down beside the girl to cuddle, telling an officer: "I don't know what's wrong with me."


5 to face trial in man's death

COLUMBUS, Ga. - A judge in Columbus says five people will stand trial together in the death of a minister who was fatally shot in what appears to be a case of mistaken identity.

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that authorities said pastor Blanchard Thomas was shot to death in March 2011 while trying to help the victim of a sexual assault.

Thomas, 44, had driven the reported victim to her family's home. But relatives and others there allegedly mistook Thomas as someone involved in the attack. He was taken to a dead-end road and shot.

Four of the five defendants are related to the woman the pastor was trying to help. All five will stand trial together beginning June 10.


Man dies after being hit on I-40

NASHVILLE - Authorities are investigating the death of a man who was struck by at least two vehicles on Interstate 40 near downtown Nashville.

According to WKRN-TV, the man was in the lane of traffic on I-40 east and was hit around 11:45 p.m. Saturday.

It's unclear why he was walking on the interstate. His identity has not been released.


Woman claims discrimination

McDONOUGH, Ga. - A blind woman is claiming discrimination after a Georgia taxi cab driver refused her a ride because of her guide dog.

Christina Butler said she called a cab company in McDonough for a ride to a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, but the driver wouldn't admit her guide dog, Bailey.

Butler said she was discriminated against because she is blind and needs the animal.

But WSB-TV quotes the owner of Checker Cab Co. in McDonough as saying the woman's boxer wouldn't fit in his wife's BMW, which he was driving that day.

The TV report didn't use the cab owner's name, but he said the refusal was a misunderstanding, not discrimination.

By law, service animals are supposed to be allowed most anywhere humans can go.