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July 25, 2007
Accident Makes Locals Elgible for Darwin Award!
By Jack Lee
Race car #33 does a high speed roll over and surprisingly it wasn't on the Skyway, it was on another race track.
Now for our featured story of the week, in which we shall be using the word allegedly a lot for legal reasons, we (allegedly) have two very deserving candidates for the next Darwin Award! They are, Miss Sheri L. Duncan, 27 of Paradise and her (alleged) friend and fellow dare-devil, Mr. Chris Crippen, 36 also of Paradise!
Lets hear it for our two (alleged) high speed
cutups...Sheri and Chris!!!
cutups...Sheri and Chris!!!
Here's how they (allegedly) qualified for a Darwin Award: Sheri was (allegedly) driving her 95 Honda at high speed, perhaps in excess of 80 mph down the Skyway towards Chico. This
comes right after Chico PD said they were doing Lidar traffic enforcement on the Skyway to catch speeders, so this act of (alleged) speeding in excess of 80 mph was really daring of Sheri, but that alone would not rate a Darwin... close, but not quite enough. The best part is yet to come. No doubt at great effort Sheri (allegedly) managed to lose control of her vehicle and roll over on a straight road! And with NO other cars involved, allegedly!
Now that takes some special kind of skill ! There, you've met all the criteria, you rock girl! You turned an (allegedly) senseless and irresponsible act into a spectacular injury accident that could have killed you and your friend. What were you thinking? No need to answer that... evidence suggests you were NOT thinking.
Now lets move on to the alleged passenger, Chris. After many years and millions upon millions of dollars spent on seatbelt awarness campaigns, Chris must have thought it really didn't apply to him, because even the law didn't scare this determine guy into wearing his seat belt (allegedly)! It appears he chose to ride shotgun in a car racing down the Skyway at 80 mph without a seatbelt??? Now that takes some real hutzpah and he paid a painful price when the vehicle came to rest upon his leg.
This was a tough choice, but if I had to choose just one of these two brainiacs for a Darwin Award I'm just not sure who rates it more? (Who would you choose?) Well, after several seconds of deep thought, I'm voting for Chris, because he was yelling and screaming in horrific pain over his broken leg after Sheri's Honda came to rest upon it. And he presumably got in that rather precarious position by NOT weaing his seat belt and was thus tossed out of the car on impact. (Oh, who wouldda thunk it?) Surprise Chris! This is the kind of thing that happens when a car rolls and people are not wearing a seat belt!!! Thats so weird, huh? Just be thankful it didn't land on your head!
Sheri was said to suffered minor scrapes and bruises and had to indure the indignity of crawling out her rear window (oh, I wish I had a picture of that). It would have made a great poster to draw attention to speeders on the Skyway! Uh, SheriI wonder if you would consider posing for it again? Probably not, but it sure would have made a great picture of how not to operate a car on the Skyway.
The question before us now is will Y-O-U become a Darwin candidate for doing something (allegedly) really stupid and dangerous or will this story make you think twice? Only YOU know the answer to that one, best of luck!
Note: The opinions are those of a retired police officer who has seen enough traffic accidents to last through 10 lifetimes. Drive smart - drive considerate, don't be a Darwin candidate.
Here's the ER story in case you missed it - you can draw your own conclusions just like I did! Two people were injured, one seriously, in a rollover crash on the Skyway about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday.
California Highway Patrol investigators said witnesses reported a gold 1995 Honda Accord traveling west on the Skyway at high speed — perhaps greater than 80 mph — with a woman at the wheel.
The vehicle went out of control just east of the Tuscan Ridge Golf Club and rolled over in a field north of the roadway.
CHP officer Eric Lund said its likely the driver panicked when the car went off the south shoulder of the roadway, and overcorrected. He was driving east on the Skyway when the crash occurred, and saw the vehicle shoot across both lanes.
A passenger in the vehicle, identified as Chris Crippen, 36, of Paradise, reportedly wasn't wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car.
His leg was pinned under the front of the Honda after it came to a rest.
The driver, Paradise resident Sheri L. Duncan, 27, was belted, but suffered numerous cuts when she reportedly crawled out of the vehicle through a broken rear window.
CHP officers, aided by witnesses, were able to lift the vehicle off Crippen's leg.
Posted by Post Scripts at July 25, 2007 09:47 AM