STEWART COUNTY, TN — A former Tennessee state senator and another person were seriously injured in a personal watercraft accident on Kentucky Lake on Saturday, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency says.
The TWRA says 25-year-old Kayla McDonald was driving a Yamaha personal watercraft, and 69-year-old former Democratic leader Roy Herron was riding with her when the PWC collided with a SeaDoo PWD driven by 24-year-old Peter Fagachugrad.
Officers with the TWRA responded to the scene at Panther Bay around 3:45 p.m. Saturday. The TWRA says emergency medical responders took McDonald and Herron to the hospital.
Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV reports that Herron was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and that his family said he had broken bones, internal bleeding and a badly injured arm. His family told the Nashville station that, despite the seriousness of his injuries, his condition is improving.
Herron was first elected to state office in 1986, when voters chose him to fill then-Gov. Ned McWherter’s former House seat. He served in the state House in the 95th through 99th general assemblies. After that, he served in the state Senate as a member of the 100th through 107th general assemblies. In the state Senate, he represented District 24, including the Local 6 counties of Henry, Lake, Obion and Weakley, as well as the counties of Denton, Decatur, Henderson, Perry and Stewart. He is currently an attorney in Dresden, leading the firm Herron Law. For more information about Herron’s time in the Tennessee General Assembly, visit capitol.tn.gov.