Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 5, 1994 TAG: 9412060033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA GARCIA STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ducker, 47, was on his way home after picking out his wife's Christmas present.
He died on impact, according to state Trooper Ted Phipps.
Ducker's car collided with the cab of a tractor-trailer driven by Kevin W. Butler, 27, of Blacksburg. Butler suffered minor injuries.
Phipps said he is still investigating the cause of the accident, but that he may never determine one. It was raining "fairly hard" when the accident occurred about 2 p.m. and weather might have been a factor, he said.
Peppers Ferry Road was closed for about two hours while emergency crews worked.
Phipps said both vehicles were destroyed in the accident.
Ducker was driving west on Peppers Ferry Road when the vehicles collided, their grilles overlapping more than halfway, Phipps said. The truck went off the south shoulder of the road and ended up on its top. Butler was not pulling a trailer.
Ducker's car was left across the westbound lane.
Phipps said it was impossible to tell whether Ducker was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, but that in this accident it would not have made a difference.
Butler was wearing a seat belt.
Radford Presbyterian Church also lost its previous pastor unexpectedly, according to a church member. That pastor died of a heart attack.
Ducker was the second person to die on Peppers Ferry Road in recent weeks. A Dublin woman was killed Nov. 26 when she was thrown through the windshield of a car in which she was a passenger.
As of Saturday, 843 people had died in car accidents in Virginia this year, according to the state police.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB