An 87-year-old Swoope man is dead after tailgating an Augusta County sheriff’s deputy, passing the cruiser on a double yellow line, then accelerating to speeds approaching 100 mph before hitting a utility pole in the Town of Craigsville.
This all happened Thursday night. The deputy recorded the incident as beginning at 10:52 p.m. on Parkersburg Turnpike in Swoope.
A 1993 Lincoln Town Car being driven by Ronald Alvin Colvin, 87, approached the police cruiser from behind at a speed of 75 mph, then passed the deputy, who initiated a pursuit.
Colvin passed another vehicle up ahead, eventually getting his speed up toward 100 mph, then lost control at a curve in the road in the 100 block of Craig Street in Craigsville, first striking a mailbox, before spinning across the roadway, striking a ditch, going airborne and striking a second ditch, which caused the vehicle to flip over onto its side and strike a utility pole.
The Lincoln finally came to rest back on its wheels in the entrance way to a retail store parking lot.
The force of the accident pinned Colvin in the wreckage.
Emergency crews were able to extricate him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the report on this from the sheriff’s office, the pursuit lasted eight minutes and covered a distance of approximately 12 miles, suggesting, from back of the envelope math, an average speed at around 90 mph.
Story by Chris Graham
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