Updates made in pair of fatal accidents
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Olney Fire Chief Ron Keeter, in red shirt, and DPS Trooper Trey Lattimore are shown in front of the Pontiac sedan in which a 31-year-old Graham woman was killed Thursday afternoon in downtown Newcastle. The DPS is still investigating the accident, caused when a pickup blew a tire then crashed into the Pontiac. (Leader photo by Brenda Sommer) -
These two pickups crashed head-on into one another Friday morning, just after 8 a.m., on Hwy. 16 (Elm St.) in Graham. The driver of the GMC pickup at left died on the scene; the driver of the Dodge Ram 4x4 at right, a minor, was not injured. The investigation into this accident is still underway. (Leader photo by Brenda Sommer)
Brenda Sommer
editor@grahamleader.com
The victim of one of two fatal crashes that occurred in less 24 hours last week has been named, and a piece of new information has come to light in the other wreck.
Graham Police Department said the man killed Monday morning when two pickup trucks hit head-on Friday morning was 62-year-old Manuel Ramos, of Graham.
Ramos was driving 1986 GMC small pickup which collided around 8 a.m. with a 2005 Dodge Ram 4x4 king cab pickup, driven by a person under the age of 17. The wreck took place on S. Hwy. 16 in Graham, in the 35-mph stretch of highway between a grocery store and a bank. Ramos died on the scene.
Ramos, a widower, is survived by four daughters and four grandchildren, and an account to assist with expenses has been set up at First State Bank of Graham.
The accident is still under investigation by Graham Police Department.
It was preceded by an horrific accident the previous evening in downtown Newcastle, during which Kelsi Messick, 31, of Graham, was killed.
A red, four-door Ford F-150 pickup, driven by Michael Eversole, of Newcastle, was westbound on U.S. 380 West, smashed head-first into the passenger’s side of Messick’s parked car. The impact of that collision crushed Messick’s car and propelled it into the vehicle parked next to it, which then was shoved into the vehicle on its other side.
Messick was declared dead on the scene of the accident.
Officials initially believed the truck blew its right-front tire immediately preceding the wreck, which occurred near or at the U.S. 380 intersection with Broadway Avenue, a 35-mph zone in the heart of the community.
But the Department of Public Safety clarified Monday that they no longer believe there was a problem with Eversole’s tire.
“It was initially reported as blowout, but that was not the case,” said Graham DPS Trooper Josh Collins. “There’s several things we’re looking at, but the blowout is not the cause of the crash.
Collins added that the accident is still under investigation, and will take many weeks to be completed.
