New Mexico man killed in Hwy. 26 rollover crash
A New Mexico man was killed Sunday and a Washington state woman and child received minor injuries when their SUV left Highway 26 south of Madras and rolled several times, Oregon State Police reported.
Troopers and medics responded around 9:30 a.m. to the reported single-vehicle crash near milepost 12, on the highway between Madras and Prineville, said Capt. Bill Fugate.
A preliminary investigation found Breanna Conaway, 27, of Vancouver, Washington was at the wheel of a 2005 Jeep Liberty heading east on the highway when she drifted off the road and onto the shoulder just south of Laurel Lane, Fugate said.
She then veered across both lanes and left the other side of the highway, where she SUV rolled several times, the captain said.
Front-seat passenger Klayton Gibson, 28, of Moriarty, New Mexico, was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the Jeep during the crash, Fugate said. He died of his injuries at the scene.
Conaway and her 5-year-old daughter sustained minor injuries and were taken to St. Charles Madras for treatment.
“Distracted driving is being investigated as a contributing factor” in the crash, Fugate said in a news release.
The vehicle’s wreckage came to rest off the road, but an investigation shut the roadway for a time. The highway later reopened, with intermittent closures for the investigation.
