ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
Two cars collided on Interstate 81 in Montgomery County during rush hour Wednesday, killing a Vermont man, sending four other people to the hospital and backing up traffic for at least three miles.
Marshall G. Hutchins, 78, of Bristol, Vt., died at the scene.
The crash occurred about 5:20 p.m. in the southbound lanes, just before Exit 109 to Radford. What remained of the two cars stretched across the road, blocking traffic as rescue workers moved the victims onto backboards.
A Subaru with a Virginia license plate that read "N2 Foods" suffered damage to the front. The entire left side of a Toyota with Vermont tags was gone; the back seat was bent in half, and a suitcase and duffel bags hung out of what had been the trunk. Hutchins was a backseat passenger in the Toyota.
State police said the Toyota driver had stopped in the emergency lane and then pulled out in front of the Subaru while merging into traffic. No charges have been filed, but police are still investigating.
The victim's wife, Louise Hutchins, 56; and her other two passengers, Lida Cloe, 81, and Leona Ruth Wells, 62, suffered cuts to their backs and necks, state police said. The driver of the Subaru, Ellen Dishman Hatcher, 40, had broken ribs. All four were taken to Carilion Radford Community Hospital where a nursing supervisor said their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
Kelley Fisher, who was driving from her home in Roanoke to Tazewell, stopped to help when she saw the accident.
A woman in her late 60s managed to get out of the Toyota, Fisher said. She told Fisher she was on her way to visit friends in Georgia with her husband, sister and a friend.
"She just kept saying that her husband didn't even want to come on the trip," Fisher said.
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. A two-car wreck on Interstate 81 inby CNBMontgomery County backs up traffic for at least three miles
Wednesday. KEYWORDS: FATALITY