ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260047
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
Two cars, a van and a tractor-trailer ricocheted like pinballs on the U.S. 460 bypass Wednesday morning when three separate accidents apparently started with a stray dog crossing the road.
Despite all the crunched metal, there was only one fatality: a second dog that belonged to one of the drivers, according to police.
Blacksburg Police Lt. Kenneth Gay said the first of three wrecks occurred because the driver of a tractor-trailer, Robert Kramer of Ohio, said he swerved to avoid hitting a dog.
Kramer was driving west - toward Giles County - when he crossed the grassy median on U.S. 460 and the two eastbound lanes before finally hitting the embankment about a quarter mile west of the South Main Street exit and Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital.
That was when police got the call about 8:40 a.m. that there was an accident, Gay said. But the chaos had just begun.
The trucker's dog, a boxer, jumped out of the cab and ran across both eastbound lanes toward the median and was hit by a car and killed. Gay said the driver of that car, Norma Rudisill of Blacksburg, stopped her car.
Another woman, Linda Sullins of Blacksburg, stopped her van in the westbound, inside lane of the four-lane divided highway to check on the truck driver and the dog, Gay said. That's when Kenneth Perkins of Christiansburg rear-ended the van.
When Perkins' car hit the van, the car spun 180 degrees and came to a rest facing the wrong way in the outside westbound lane. Gay said that is when Jennifer Pagans of Roanoke hit Perkins' car on the left front side.
Perkins was pinned in his car and Blacksburg Rescue workers had to cut his car apart to get him out, Gay said. Perkins suffered the most serious injuries - a possible broken ankle and several lacerations on his head and face as a result of hitting the windshield. He was taken to Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital. His car had an estimated $3,000 in damages as did Sullins' van.
Gay said the tractor-trailer driver was cited for "failure to maintain control of a vehicle." His rig had an estimated $6,000 in damage, Gay said.
Further charges may be brought after the investigation is completed, he said.
Morning rush-hour traffic was slowed by the accidents, but stopped only 10 minutes while a wrecker cleared away the cars. Gay said it was nearly noon before all the vehicles were cleared from the scene.
And the dog that started it all?
It remains at large.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. The roof of a car had to be cut off toby CNBrescue a motorist injured in a multiple car accident on the U.S. 460
bypass Wednesday. color.