
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990                   TAG: 9007050206
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ROANOKE MAN DIES IN WRECK OF TRACTOR-TRAILER

One Roanoke man died and another was injured when a tractor-trailer carrying 43,000 pounds of truck tires tumbled down an embankment near an Ohio duplex home Tuesday.

Fernando Ozuna, 30, of Roanoke was driving the Blue Ridge Transfer rig when it wrecked at 5:10 a.m. on U.S. 50, just west of Chillicothe, Ohio.

He died at the scene.

Anthony Riffe, 30, also of Roanoke, suffered a cut to the head. Riffe, who was riding in the truck's sleeper compartment, was treated and released, said Ross County Sheriff's Deputy J.H. Miller.

According to police reports, Ozuna was attempting to make a sharp right turn on a downgrade when the truck started skidding. It turned on its side, slid more than 95 feet and took out nearly 90 feet of guardrail at the top of an embankment.

The impact with the guardrail crushed the driver's side of the tractor-trailer's cab, trapping Ozuna inside. The truck then toppled down a 40-foot embankment and struck a tree before coming to rest on its top.

Miller said the tree, which was 14 to 16 inches in diameter, kept the truck containing 400 truck tires from toppling into the duplex about 50 feet away.

Families were in the building, Miller said.

Ozuna is survived by his wife, Evelyn Ayers Ozuna, and his son, Alex Rian Ozuna.

by CNB