BUCKHANNON — One man was life-flighted to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown Saturday, Sept. 7, with serious injuries following a wreck in a blind curve on the Old Elkins Road but has since been released, according to the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department.
The two-vehicle wreck at the intersection of Mt. Union and the Old Elkins Road occurred at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, when a white pick-up Ford F-350 being driven by 60-year-old Everett Huffman was traveling north on the Mt. Union Road and then turned onto the Old Elkins Road. Huffman’s vehicle was struck in the driver’s side by a silver Ford Taurus sedan being driven by 66-year-old Michael Gagnon that had been traveling eastbound on the Old Elkins Road.
According to investigating officer Deputy T.A. Gordon with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department, Gagnon was transported via HealthNet to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown with incapacitating injuries, but has since been released, according to an official with the sheriff’s department.
A passenger in Gagnon’s Ford Taurus, 56-year-old Ora Ellen Shepherd, also suffered possible injuries and was transported to Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins. Another passenger in the car, Brian Shepherd, said he was uninjured and declined medical treatment.
Huffman, the driver of the truck, was also transported to Davis Memorial Hospital to be checked for possible injuries.
Gordon didn’t issue any citations, noting the accident was likely the result of a blind curve.
“The intersection of CR (county route) 151 and CR 26 is in the center of a blind curve on [the Old Elkins Road],” Gordon wrote in the accident report, noting Gagnon attempted to avoid the crash by braking and steering.
Huffman stated he had tried to check carefully for oncoming traffic but didn’t see Gagnon’s vehicle approaching.
“I was on the way to work and I stopped at the stop sign of Mt. Union and the Old Elkins Road,” he said in his statement. “I looked both ways and didn’t see anything coming until I got about halfway through [the roadway], and then I saw the other car. That’s when it hit me.”
Both vehicles had to be towed from the scene by Tennerton Auto.
In addition to the sheriff’s department, the Ellamore Volunteer Fire Department, the Buckhannon Fire Department and Upshur EMS responded to the scene.
