Crash claims man

April 28, 2003|by DAVE McMILLION

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - A 20-year-old Hagerstown man died early Sunday when the car in which he was riding along River Road near Shepherdstown struck a tree, police and fire officials said.

The man killed in the accident was identified as Joseph A. Degrange, West Virginia State Police said.

Degrange listed his home as being in Hagerstown, although he may have just moved to Smithsburg, state police said.

Degrange was killed when he and three other people riding in a small car struck the tree about 12:50 a.m., state police said.

The crash occurred just south of Trough Road in an area that is across from Knotts Island on the Potomac River, said state police and Ross Morgan, assistant fire chief at the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Co.

Morgan said everyone was out of the car when he arrived.

Morgan said rescue workers from his department transported Degrange to Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Ranson, W.Va.

The car was badly damaged in the crash, Morgan said.

Information about the other people in the car was unavailable from state police Sunday.

Rescue crews from Sharpsburg and the Friendship Fire Co. in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., also responded to the scene, Morgan said.

It was at least the third fatal car crash in the Eastern Panhandle in the last two weeks.

On April 13, a Hedgesville, W.Va., man was killed when he wrecked his motorcycle on Winchester Avenue near the Big Springs turn just south of Martinsburg, W.Va.

Later the same day, a Charles Town, W.Va., woman was killed when her compact car crossed the center line on U.S. 340 south of Charles Town and struck a recreational vehicle, police said.

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