aArea law enforcement officials stayed busy over the weekend responding to multiple wrecks, including a fatality Saturday in Wytheville.
According to the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office, the fatal head-on collision occurred about 2:20 p.m. Saturday on U.S. 21, three-tenths of a mile north of Barrett Mill Road.
A department spokesman said that Patty Ann Coe, 48, of Carroll Drive in Wytheville, was driving a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox toward Speedwell when she crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic, striking a 2000 Toyota Tundra Truck driven by Jeffrey Scott Pease, 50, of South Nye Road, who was driving toward Wytheville. On impact, Pease’s truck spun around and also hit a guardrail, the spokesman said.
Coe died in the medical helicopter en route to Bristol Regional Medical Center. A passenger in Coe’s car, Joshua Lee Oaster, 28, was flown to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition. According to family members, he sustained multiple injuries, including 10 broken bones, and was released from the hospital on Monday.
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Pease was taken to Wythe County Community Hospital and was later flown to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was hospitalized and in fair condition Monday. A juvenile passenger in his truck was treated at WCCH and released.
According to a Facebook post by Spiller Elementary art teacher Wendy Pease, doctors are evaluating Jeffrey Pease for possible internal bleeding in the abdomen area. She said he suffered a broken right foot and a cut above his nose that required 14 stitches.
Damage estimates are $9,000 to Pease’s vehicle, $5,000 to Coe’s car and $200 to the guardrail.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. The sheriff’s office said the road had been plowed and was dry at the time of the wreck.
Coe’s daughter, Tiffany Coe, has set up a Go-Fund Me account to collect money for her mother’s funeral expenses. On the page, she said her mother did not have any insurance.
“She was a wonderful lady and so loving and kind to everyone she met,” her daughter wrote on the page.
On Nov. 12, the home the Coe family rented at 2401 Crockett Road was destroyed by fire. No one was home at the time, but several family pets died in the blaze.
In a weather-related, head-on collision Friday afternoon on Ivanhoe Road, Jennifer Crockett, 24, of Cripple Creek, collided with a Suburban Propane truck about 3:45 p.m.
According to Virginia State Police Trooper J.M. Martin, Crockett was transported to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she was in good condition Monday. She was driving a 2013 Nissan four-door. A toddler in her car was not injured, the trooper said.
The truck driver, David Delp, 68, of Fries, also was not injured.
Crockett will be charged with reckless driving because she was driving too fast for the roadway conditions, Martin said, adding that both vehicles suffered extensive damage and had to be hauled form the accident scene.
Also on Friday, about 4:30 p.m., a Wythe County school bus slid off the road into a ditch on Rickey Road, near Gingerbread Lane in Max Meadows. No children were aboard the bus, according to the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office. The bus driver was not injured.
At the same time, a second school bus, near the first bus on Rickey Road, got stuck on the icy road. That bus had 13 students on board. Deputies called for a salt truck, which spread salt on the road, allowing the bus with students on board to continue traveling and officials to get the other bus out of the ditch.
In all, officers from the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office responded to 16 wrecks in the county over the weekend.
Statewide, the Virginia State Police responded to 772 traffic crashes and aided 1,234 disabled vehicles from midnight Saturday through 6 p.m. Sunday, according the VSP Public Relations Director Corinne Geller. During the same time period, VSP received a total of 3,928 calls for service.
VSP investigated one reported traffic fatality in Greene County. The majority of crashes involved only damage to vehicles, Geller said.
In Division IV, which includes Wytheville, troopers responded to 58 crashes and 85 disabled vehicles.
During bad weather, drivers can check road conditions in advance of leaving home, by calling 511 or visiting www.511virginia.org.
To reach Millie Rothrock, call 228-6611, ext. 35, or email mrothrock@wythenews.com.