5/18/2006 4:00:00 AM One driver in 89 accident dies Two survive
A pickup burns fiercely on the north end of the Drake overpass Tuesday afternoon
after a multi-vehicle incident that claimed the life of one driver.
Courtesy Photo/Gary Gromer
By MIRSADA BURIC The Daily Courier
PRESCOTT A 25-year-old Kingman man died Tuesday night from injuries he suffered in a three-vehicle accident on Highway 89 at the Drake overpass, 18 miles south of Ash Fork.
A Department of Public Safety press release states that Christopher Chapman died at 7:30 p.m. at the Flagstaff Medical Center where emergency personnel airlifted him for treatment of his severe injuries.
The 3:10 p.m. accident at milepost 346.5 happened when Chapman's southbound 1979 Chevy struck a northbound 1987 tractor-trailer that was pulling a manufactured home. The Chevy then hit a northbound 2001 Toyota pickup that Patrick Shire, 60, of Prescott, was driving.
The Toyota then caught on fire. Emergency personnel airlifted Shire to the Maricopa Medical Center burn unit with serious injuries.
The crash did not hurt the driver of the tractor-trailer, Jason Baugh, 29, of Buckeye.
The Department of Public Safety said Chapman was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, which contributed to severity of his injuries. The other two drivers used seatbelts.
