A vehicle collision on a walkway just outside the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee early Saturday has left one worker dead, one critically injured, and another less severely injured.
Both the unnamed driver of the car and the three unnamed pedestrians struck are employees of the plant. Police were called just after 5:30 a.m. to respond to the scene, where they found one deceased victim and the other two workers injured.
It is not yet known what caused the driver to leave a road inside the facility and veer onto the walkway, where the victims were struck.
Production at the plant was shut down for the day.
“A tragic road incident occurred today at Volkswagen Chattanooga, resulting in an employee fatality and two injured employees. Our heartfelt condolences are with the employees, their families and everyone impacted by this tragedy. All production at the plant today has been canceled,” Volkswagen spokesperson Amanda Plecas told WRCB-TV, a Chattanooga NBC affiliate.
A worker at the plant who went unnamed said that recent hiring surges have made things crowded.
“People walk through there thinking they have the [right of way] all the time. We’ve had situations happen before. As far as this bad, we haven’t seen anything like this. They hired 2,000 people last year and already 500 this year,” the employee told WDEF-TV, a Chattanooga CBS affiliate.
