Marina Manager Dies in Truck Wreck

The manager of Hidden Harbor Marina died in a pickup truck crash either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning on Hurricane Ridge Road.
Dead is 56 year old Rickie Eugene Latta of Smithville.
Trooper Jimmy Knowles of the Tennessee Highway Patrol says Latta was driving a 1999 Dodge Ram pickup truck, heading north toward the marina where he lived, when he lost control of the vehicle on Hurricane Ridge Road near the fire tower location.
According to Trooper Knowles, Latta apparently failed to negotiate a curve and overcorrected. The truck went back across the left side of the road and overturned several times, coming to rest upside down in the edge of the woodline about 170 feet from the roadway. Latta, not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the truck. His body was found in a field about 84 feet from the edge of the road and about 86 feet from the truck.
There were apparently no witnesses to the crash so the exact time of the accident has not been determined. Trooper Knowles says Latta was last seen alive around 11:00 p.m. Saturday night. His body was found around 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning by a resident who lives near the scene of the accident.
In addition to Trooper Knowles, DeKalb EMS, members of the DeKalb County Fire Department, and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department also responded.