La Pine man dies in crash at Burgess, Day roads

(Update: Sheriff’s office releases names, tells what happened)

A 66-year-old La Pine man was fatally injured Monday afternoon when he stopped to turn left into a store on Burgess Road and was rear-ended by a tow truck, pushing his pickup into the path of an oncoming SUV, Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputies said.

The SUV’s occupants, a La Pine woman and a 10-year-old boy, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, they added.

Deputies and La Pine Rural Fire District medics responded to the crash around 12:35 p.m. on Burgess Road near the intersection at Day Road, said sheriff’s Sgt. Doug Sullivan.

An investigation determined that Warren Hensman of La Pine was driving a red 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup, heading west on Burgess Road, when he stopped and waited to turn left into the parking lot of The Corner Store, Sullivan said.

That’s when Hensman’s pickup was hit in the rear by a 2000 Freightliner tow truck being driven by Rollie Gray, 69, also of La Pine, and owned by High Lakes Towing of La Pine. Gray and a 14-year-old boy riding as passenger were not injured, the sergeant said.

The impact of the rear-end collision sent Hensman’s pickup into the oncoming lane and the path of an eastbound green 2015 Kia Soul driven by Jennifer Mitchell, 39, also of La Pine.

Medics began life-saving efforts and cut Hensman, who was alone, out of the pickup’s wreckage, Sullivan said. La Pine Fire Chief Mike Supkis said Sunriver Fire medics took him to the La Pine Fire heliport, where he was transfered to an AirLink helicopter, but he died of his injuries on the way to the hospital.

Crescent Fire medics took Mitchell and her young passenger to St. Charles Bend by ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries, Sullivan said. Gray and his passenger were not hurt in the crash.

Burgess Road was still closed west of Day Road late Monday afternoon as the crash investigation continued.