Click here for more articles
 Three dead in Ignacio area car crashes
5/30/2008 By: Carole McWilliams
Two Ignacio area men died last Friday evening in a collision on Highway 151, seven and a half miles east of Ignacio, and an Ignacio woman died Wednesday afternoon in a crash on Highway 172.
The May 23 victims were Antonio Martinez, 69, who lived on County Road 330, and Curtis W. Lagerstrom, 44, who lived at 7950 Hwy 151. Both died at the scene of the crash.
Virginia Rooney, 79, died Wednesday at the scene after her
Stephanie Perry was one happy Ignacio
High School graduate at the ceremony
which occurred last Saturday. 46 graduated.
See the story in the Pine River Times.
1998 Suburu Forester collided with a 1984 Toyota pickup driven by Gary Houtz, 59, of Bayfield. Houtz was listed in the Colorado State Patrol report with moderate injuries. He was taken to Mercy Medical Center.
According to the CSP report on the May 23 crash, Antonio Martinez was southbound on Hwy 151. He lost control on the slushy road, went into the northbound lane and the right side of his car slid into the northbound pickup driven by Curtis Lagerstrom.
The crash happened at around 7:24 p.m. Martinez was driving a 1990 Chevy sedan, and Lagerstrom was in a 1995 Toyota T-100 pickup. Neither was using a seatbelt, according to the CSP report.
“Basically it was a head-on collision, but instead of head to head, it went head to side,” said Trooper Jonathan Silver of the Colorado State Patrol’s Durango office.
Silver said he thinks Lagerstrom possibly could have survived if he had been wearing a seat belt, “but it’s always hard to tell,” he said. Both men were riding alone, and no one directly witnessed the accident, Silver said, although people arrived on the scene shortly afterward.
Martinez’s speed was estimated at 50 mph, and Lagerstrom’s speed at 50 to 55 mph. Rain and hail appeared to be the main factors in the collision, not speed, Silver said.
The Wednesday crash happened at 1:50 p.m. about five miles north of Ignacio on Hwy. 172. According to the CSP report, Rooney was headed toward Ignacio. Her car crossed into the westbound lane and collided head-on with Houtz’s truck.
Houtz was wearing a seatbelt. Rooney was not.
CSP does not consider drugs or alcohol to be factors in either of these crashes.
Services for Martinez were on Wednesday. Lagerstrom’s funeral is today at 10 a.m. at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Ignacio. Obituaries for the two men are on Page 9.
Funeral arrangements for Virginia Rooney were not completed as of press time.
|
