Texas Pickup Truck Tire Blowout & Rollover Kills Two and Injures One
9/30/15
A DeSoto, Texas teen was ejected from a vehicle when it flipped on Interstate 20. Chandler Allen, 18, was traveling back to North Texas with his brother and cousin when the vehicle’s back left tire blew out. All three were on the Tyler College baseball team.
DPS Trooper Dark said the wreck occurred at 2:35 p.m. when the 1998 Ford Ranger, being driven by Keenan Clark II, sustained a tire blow-out. The vehicle lost control and then rolled several times.
Anferne Allen was also ejected in the crash and had to be airlifted to Trinity Mother Hospital. The DPS spokesperson said Anferne was in serious condition. Neither he nor his brother were wearing their seat belts.
Clark, the driver, was the only person wearing a seat belt. He is listed as stable. While it appears that two of the three of the occupants were not wearing seatbelts, in some crashes and rollovers, the seatbelt buckle can actually come open during the roll allowing the passenger or driver to be ejected out of the vehicle or thrown about the interior often being crushed by the roof causing spinal cord injuries.
Redmond, Oregon SUV Rollover Kills One
9/30/15
A 45 year old man from Redmond died Friday evening when his SUV rolled. The driver, Steven Roth, was not wearing his seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle. After being ejected, he was pinned beneath the vehicle.
When officers arrived, they found Roth pinned under the SUV, which had landed on its side. With help from the community members and more officers, the SUV was lifted high enough to allow the Fire department to remove the driver.
Life Flight was activated and landed at the Redmond high school parking lot. But before being placed on the helicopter, life-saving measures ended and the driver was pronounced dead on the scene.
Accident investigators said it appears Roth was driving without a seat belt at the time of the crash. The passenger in the SUV was reported to have been wearing a seat belt and only had minor injuries.
“The Redmond Police Department would like to remind the community that seat belt use is important and saves persons from serious injury or worse,” the police official said.
Seatbelt can save lives if used properly and if they hold the occupant securely in place. In some rollovers, the seatbelt buckle can actually disengage or inertially unlatch subjecting the person to untold dangers including spinal cord injuries and head injuries and death.
