Man Lets Jesus Take The Wheel, Flips Truck 5 Times: Deputies Say

Members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol say a man traveling along I-81 was found “speaking gibberish” and in possession of drugs and alcohol after flipping his vehicle near the 73 mile marker on Jan. 20.

Sullivan County deputies and highway patrol officers in Tennessee say Chad O. England, 33, was the driver of a truck that flipped five times on I-81 North and he was spotted attempting to run from the scene of the solo car crash, WVLT-TV reports. According to the arrest report, deputies say they found six grams of marijuana, a half-gram of cocaine, and a couple bottles of Crown Royal along with several cans allegedly used for “huffing.”

During his Jan. 20 arrest, England told deputies that he flipped his truck five times off the interstate because “Jesus was calling him and advised him to let go of the wheel.”

The words are eerily similar to a 2005 Carrie Underwood song entitled “Jesus, Take The Wheel.”

“He said that Jesus was calling him and advised him to let go of the wheel, and that’s what he did,” the police report reads. England told officers securing him in the backseat of their patrol car that he was behind the wheel of the truck, but wasn’t driving at the time of the crash.

Witnesses said they saw England take off running from the scene of the one-car accident and he left the side of the roadway. England says he did not run, instead claiming he was “being called and was traveling to bow before someone.”

The incident report says England denied to have his blood drawn, but was clearly under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash.

England completed medical clearance at Bristol Regional Hospital and was transported to Sullivan County Jail. He faces charges including a DUI first offense, felony possession of schedule II and schedule VI narcotics, possession of paraphernalia and having no insurance on the totaled vehicle.