HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — When Katherine White was driving her three boys to church in her new car Wednesday evening, August 19, the last thing she expected to happen was a head-on collision. Seconds after the wreck, she peered around the airbags to see roughly 30 guns pointed at her.
At around 6:15 p.m., White’s 2021 Volkswagen Atlas collided head-on with a 2026 Nissan Pathfinder on Court Square.
Distraught, White recalled what happened.
“I was coming around the square,” she said. “I saw that the [other] car wasn’t gonna stop.”
She attempted to turn out of the way, but before she could manage, the Pathfinder hit.
The impact deployed every airbag in her car.
White said that when she came to, her instincts kicked in.
“I need to get my children out of here,” she recalled thinking.
She got the boys out of the car and into the care of a bystander, Tracy Stokes, while she tried to process what had just happened.
The guns White saw were pointed at the other vehicle by officers who had spent the better part of 30 miles trying to bring it to a stop.
Kristopher M. Isabell, 25, along with passenger Antoinette S. White, 37, were fleeing police when they entered Court Square off U.S. 70 and turned into oncoming traffic, striking White’s vehicle head-on.
Isabell was injured in the crash. Katherine White, her three sons, and Antoinette White were not.
According to warrants filed by THP, the pursuit began on Interstate 40 when a trooper attempted to stop Isabell’s black Nissan Pathfinder.
Isabell refused to stop, and the chase exited the interstate onto U.S. 70 eastbound toward Carroll County.
Carroll County deputies attempted to deploy stop sticks near Leach Road but were unable to get them into position as the Pathfinder sped past.
As the pursuit entered Huntingdon city limits, Isabell continued passing vehicles in no-passing zones and driving in the wrong lane of travel, nearly striking several oncoming cars, according to the report.
The chase continued across Veterans Drive and into Court Square, where it ended in the crash.
After the crash, officers pulled Isabell from the vehicle as he began to resist, according to the report. Huntingdon Sergeant Ethan Parham deployed a taser to help detain him.
A search of Isabell turned up a plastic baggy containing a green leafy substance in his pocket, and a subsequent search of the vehicle yielded a scale, cut plastic straws, burnt aluminum foil, and additional suspected narcotics, the report states.
Isabell was taken to a hospital for treatment before being transported to the Carroll County Jail. He faces more than a dozen charges, including felony evading arrest, five counts of reckless endangerment, reckless driving, felony possession of methamphetamine, felony possession of a Schedule II and Schedule VI substance, and driving on a suspended license, along with several traffic citations.
Antoinette White, the passenger in Isabell’s vehicle, was cited for possession of a legend drug without a prescription after a vial of Heparin Sodium was found in the car, according to a separate report.
At the scene of the crash, several bystanders noted the square is normally full of children around that time on Wednesdays, but First Baptist’s youth building, “The Zone,” is currently under remodel, keeping kids away from the area that evening.
Katherine White said she’s thankful that her children are alright, and that things weren’t as bad they could’ve been.