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cheapjeep
07-31-2004, 12:35 PM
Here is a link to the Midwest jeep thing web site.

Link (http://www.midwestjeepthing.com/Forums/topic.asp?topic_id=17410&forum_id=5&Topic_Title=Allen+and+Sue+Huntington+are+missing+% 28not+a+joke&forum_title=General+Discussion+Forum&replies=7&M=0&S=1)

Rollover claims two lives

By Ben Murray




A vacationing couple from Missouri was killed Tuesday evening when their Jeep slipped off Black Bear Pass and rolled more than 900 feet down a steep slope. Both were pronounced dead at the scene at 7 p.m., according to a report from the Colorado State Patrol.

The victims, Vern A. Huntington, 50, and his wife, Susan A. Huntington, 51, of Saint Peters, Mo., slid off Black Bear Pass road while taking a left hand turn on one of the switchbacks above the top of falls at about 4:15 p.m., police said. The couple was descending the steep mountain road in a soft-top Jeep Wrangler when the accident occurred. Neither was wearing a seatbelt and both were eventually ejected from the vehicle, suffering multiple traumatic head and chest injuries, according to a report from county coroner Bob Dempsey.

Police said there was no clear cause for the accident, though a recent rainstorm made the road somewhat slick Tuesday afternoon.

The actual cause, "is probably just always going to be a guess," said Mike Westcott of the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office, who responded to the scene.

Westcott said the first call about the accident came into the Sheriff's Office a little after 4 p.m. from another driver on the road who had seen the Jeep roll by in his rearview mirror.

Police were on the scene by just after 4:30 p.m., and the Search and Rescue team was scrambled to help locate and treat the victims.

Because neither passenger was in the vehicle when police arrived, an immediate search began for accident victims, while rescuers waited for confirmation on how many people were in the Jeep when it crashed, Westcott said.

Vern Huntington was found where he was ejected from the vehicle about 100 feet from where it left the road; Susan was later found to have been ejected about 50 feet from where it came to rest, on its roof and back on the road approximately 930 feet down the hill, according to police and coroner's reports. There were no other travelers with the Huntingtons.

The Jeep was "totally crushed," according to Dempsey's report.

SAR team leader Eric Berg said a lack of information on how many passengers were in the vehicle originally complicated operations for the rescuers, who performed a "safe but aggressive grid search," of the area, looking for victims.

Berg said his volunteer rescue team worked valiantly on the slick hillside Tuesday in what were considered extremely tough circumstances.

"They performed magnificently, as usual," he said.

Though Black Bear Pass road is in places exceedingly steep and narrow, especially in a pitched rock section above Ingram Falls referred to as "The Stairs," fatal car accidents on it are rare, and there has not been a fatality in recent memory, police said.

Mudrat
07-31-2004, 08:29 PM
Condolences to the surviving family and friends.

No Seat Belts???

Mud

jeepsr4ever
08-01-2004, 04:45 PM
..

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