Alcoa stabbing ends in accident fatality

A Maryville man died in a fatal car accident after allegedly stabbing a Knoxville man late Friday night.

Ron Wells, Jr., 24, Maryville, had been accused of stabbing a Knoxville man in the side of the stomach after an altercation at around 10:13 p.m. June 21, the Alcoa Police report read.

APD officers were called to the scene of the stabbing where the victim “was holding a shirt over his side..” and told officers Wells stabbed him with a knife.

The victim told officers that Wells fled the scene on foot after the stabbing and that prior to the stabbing, he and his alleged girlfriend, Cora Thomas Hopkins, 24, Alcoa, had been across the street at a neighbor’s house. The neighbor told officers she believed Wells and Hopkins drove to her house in a gray sedan.

The victim was transferred to UT Medical for treatment, and officers called CID detectives to continue the investigation. While the detectives were investigating, dispatch alerted APD officers that Maryville Police officers had located Wells driving on East Broadway.

While APD officers were on the way to Wells’ location, they received another update from dispatch that Wells had wrecked on East Broadway.

According to MPD Deputy Chief Greg Cooke, Wells and Hopkins were traveling east on East Broadway at the intersection of Fremont Circle at a high rate of speed when Wells struck a vehicle from behind. His car went into the westbound lane, where it struck another vehicle head-on.

When officers arrived at the scene of the accident, the report states that they observed Wells and Hopkins to be unresponsive to officers’ commands to show their hands.

The report read, “Both occupants were not moving and appeared to have major injuries as a result of the impact.”

The report described both Wells and Hopkins as having “agonal" breathing.

Officers cut through Hopkins’ seatbelts and removed her from the vehicle to assess her injuries.

Wells, who was reported not wearing a seatbelt, was unreachable from the driver’s side due to the amount of damage to the vehicle. Officers were able to remove him from the passenger's side.

Both Wells and Hopkins were transported by AMR to UT Medical Center for further medical treatment. Hopkins' status is unknown.

Wells was pronounced dead at the hospital, Cooke said.