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La Pine man killed in head-on crash on Highway 97

Highway 97 fatal crash Rhea 1111-1
Rhea Panela/KTVZ
Two-vehicle crash Wednesday morning on Highway 97 near Sunriver killed 1 La Pine man, injured 2.

OSP says driver was going too fast for conditions; crash shut hwy. for 2 hours

SUNRIVER, Ore. (KTVZ) -- One La Pine man was killed and two others were injured Wednesday morning in a head-on crash on icy Highway 97 near Sunriver, Oregon State Police said.

OSP troopers and other emergency personnel responded around 7:45 a.m. to the two-vehicle crash near milepost 158 and Vandevert Road, about 10 miles north of La Pine, troopers said.

A preliminary investigation found that John Kerlin, 31, was driving northbound when he lost control of his car on the icy roadway and it slid into the southbound lane, colliding with a minivan driven by a 70-year-old La Pine man.

Kerlin sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased, troopers said.

The other driver and his passenger, a 44-year-old La Pine man, were taken to St. Charles Bend after the crash, which closed Highway 97 for about two hours.

OSP Trooper Caleb Ratliff said Kerlin apparently was driving too fast for the icy conditions.

"The roads are slick out there," he said at the scene. "And even though the speed might be 65 (mph) here, conditions dictate that you still need to travel at a speed that's reasonable, given the conditions, so they need to slow down slower than that."

OSP was assisted by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Bend Police Department, fire medics and ODOT.

Article Topic Follows: Central Oregon

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Rhea Panela

Rhea Panela is a multimedia journalist for NewsChannel 21. Learn more about Rhea here.

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