Hartselle mother injured in wreck

A young mother of three was seriously injured in a car-truck collision on I-65, just north of the Falkville exit early Thursday morning after dropping off her oldest child at Falkville High School.
Tracy Mae Smith, 31, of Eva sustained multiple fractures of both legs and arms, pelvis and punctured lungs when the car she was driving collided with a 16-wheeler transfer truck at approximately 7:30 a.m.
She was airlifted to Huntsville Hospital by hellcopter where she remains in stable but serious condition.
Smith’s car left the northbound lanes, crossed the median and took a glancing blow from the southbound truck. She was trapped inside her car for about 40 minutes while fire fighters from Falkville and Hartselle worked to rescue here. During that time interstate traffic was diverted onto Highway 31 from the Thompson Road exit.
James P. Burnham, 60, of Butler, was the driver of the truck. He escaped without injury.
Smith, a 1997 graduate of Falkville High School, and her husband Jason, a traveling salesman, and their three children, were temporarily living in Hartselle with her parents, Wayne and Loretta Halbrooks.  Their children are Emoni, 13, Allie, 4, and Bo, 2.
She underwent three hours of emergency surgery and is expected to have to undergo other injury-related surgical procedures in the future.