Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 1993 TAG: 9302230121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DIANE SIMPSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WEATHER BLAMED IN DEATHS OF 3 MEN
Heavy rain, ice and snow Sunday and Monday in Southwest Virginia left one dead in flood waters, two killed in crashes on icy roads and a state trooper injured while assisting at a car accident.Gregory Stone Perkins, 27, of Saltville accidentally slipped and fell off a small wooden bridge into rushing and swelling waters near his home about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, police said.
Perkins' disappearance prompted a search by the Saltville Fire Department and Rescue Squad. Several other Smyth County crews assisted.
Perkins was found dead in the creek by rescue workers at 8:15 a.m. Monday about 1 1/2 miles downstream from the bridge.
The rain and cold weather caused Perkins to slip, Sheriff's Office Investigator Chip Shuler said. "No foul play is suspected at all."
Monday morning, Danny Arnold Sloan Jr., 24, of Ferrum, died after he lost control of his pickup truck on icy Virginia 640 west of Rocky Mount. Sloan's vehicle hit a tree and overturned at 7 a.m., state police said. Sloan died later at Franklin Memorial Hospital.
In Carroll County, 30-year-old Timothy C. Coomers was killed about the same time when his four-wheel-drive vehicle hit a patch of ice on Virginia 887, ran off the right side of the road and slammed into a bridge abutment, state police said. Coomers, of Galax, died at the scene.
Icy roads put another man in the hospital and made drivers late for work in Roanoke after several cars slipped on icy patches on Interstate 81 near the Virginia 419 exit and ended up on the median.
As State Trooper C.D. Jesse was assisting a car that slipped off I-81 and onto the median about 5:15 a.m. Monday, two other cars "spun out and skidded out of control," Sgt. John Wingold said. The cars collided and one ran over Jesse, he said. Both cars ended up in the median.
Jesse was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he underwent treatment for broken ribs, multiple bruises and scrapes. He was listed Monday in very serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit.
The accident's cleanup lasted more than three hours because tow trucks and "workers couldn't get in," Wingold said. Another accident that occurred just north of the scene also complicated matters, he said.
Cars were bumper-to-bumper on I-81 "for a considerable distance," Wingold said.
Three unrelated accidents involving tractor-trailers stopped traffic along U.S. 220 in the Boones Mill and Rocky Mount areas in the early morning.
Snow blanketed areas of western, central and Northern Virginia, where state police reported minor accidents.
"They were mostly the fall-into-the-ditch kind of thing," said a state police dispatcher in Richmond.
Crews worked most of the day to clear 6 to 10 inches of snow that fell in Highland County and to remove about 6 inches in Bath County. The snow turned to sleet by afternoon.
The Potomac region of the American Automobile Association received almost three times the normal weekend load for emergency calls, averaging 150 calls an hour, spokesman Ron Krebs said.
Conditions improved Monday, as morning fog turned into mostly sunny skies by noon and temperatures rose into the high 40s.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Keywords:
FATALITY