Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 1, 1991 TAG: 9104010148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Janice Potter suffered cuts to her face and head in the accident just north of the Hershberger Road on-ramp shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, rescue workers said.
She was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital; her condition was not available earlier today.
Rescue workers said one other person involved in the crash was treated for a minor injury.
State Trooper S.S. Combs said Potter's car was southbound on 581 when it slid into the median and overturned, then slid on its top and hit the left rear of a four-wheel-drive vehicle driven by Donald L. Elliott of Salem.
Elliott, 36, and his two sons, Don Jr., 13, and Nicholas, 10, were coming home from an afternoon of bass fishing at Smith Mountain Lake when they saw Potter's car coming at them.
"When I saw her heading for the median," Elliott said, "I hollered for the boys. I hollered for them to hold on."
After the initial crash, Potter's car veered and hit the boat Elliott was towing.
"It just kind of exploded," Combs said. Boat seats, he said, were found on an embankment about 50 feet off the road.
After the collision, the boat trailer and debris shot in front of a car driven by Thomas R. Hubbard, 34, of Rocky Mount. Hubbard told police that Potter's car then rammed into his truck before sliding into the right-hand lane, where it collided with another oncoming car driven by Darlene Brown, a 19-year-old Radford University student from Hurt.
Combs said neither Brown nor her passenger was injured. Both were wearing seat belts.
Debris, including broken fiberglass, boat lights, suntan oil and pamphlets from Potter's car, were strewn over about 100 yards of the three-lane highway. Traffic was snarled for about an hour as cleanup crews worked.
by CNB