Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003023216
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The collision occurred on U.S. 460 in this small Giles County town near the West Virginia border.
Rescue workers found eight large sticks of "sweating" dynamite that had been thrown from the back of the pickup truck along with cans of kerosene and gasoline.
Officials closed the highway in both directions for more than an hour and evacuated a dozen nearby houses.
"When dynamite sweats and saturates, it can ignite. It gets hairy at that point. It can do anything," said Glen Lyn Fire Chief Doug Farewell. "We just took every precaution we could."
Police arrested Bernard A. Thomas, 31, of Princeton, W.Va., on charges of transporting explosives without a license, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, reckless driving, driving with a suspended or revoked license and possession of marijuana.
He was being held in the Giles County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bond late Thursday.
The driver of the car, James E. Bradley of Narrows, received severe head and neck injuries, Farewell said.
Bradley first was taken to Giles Memorial Hospital, then was flown by the Life-Guard 10 helicopter to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. A nursing supervisor there said he would be admitted to the intensive care unit.
Farewell said both drivers were heading west on 460 when Thomas' truck collided with Bradley's car and flipped it.
Thomas was not seriously hurt, but he would not let rescue workers tend to his cuts and bruises, Police Chief A.W. Skeens said.
"We couldn't get at him. He was trying to quote Bible scriptures. He had Bibles in both hands," Skeens said.
"They had to haul him away pretty quick. He was interfering with my doing first aid," Farewell said.
by CNB