Two killed in separate Eastern Panhandle crashes

August 01, 2008

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. --Â Two Berkeley County residents died Friday in separate vehicle accidents in the Eastern Panhandle, West Virginia State Police said.

Tina Marie Atkins, 37, of the Hedgesville, W.Va., area, died after the truck in which she was riding early Friday struck a utility pole along Cherry Run Road in Morgan County, according to a press release from First Sgt. E.D. Burnett.

The accident occurred when the driver, David Allen Spurlock, 20, lost control of a 1994 Nissan pickup truck that was southbound in the 4000 block of Cherry Run Road, Burnett said.
Spurlock was flown to Winchester (Va.) Medical Center, Burnett said.
The accident was reported at 12:14 a.m., Burnett said. Â
John William Pinkham, 74, of Bunker Hill, W.Va., died from injuries he sustained in an accident just before 5 a.m. involving another vehicle on W.Va. 51 in Jefferson County, police said.

Pinkham was pronounced dead at Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Ranson, W.Va.

The driver of the other vehicle, Filippos Ikonomou of Ranson, was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., police said.

Pinkham, who was driving a Chrysler Sebring, apparently attempted to pass three vehicles and a tractor-trailer in an eastbound no-passing zone, police said. His vehicle struck a westbound Toyota Camry driven by Ikonomou in a head-on collision near Ambler Road, police said.

Troopers J.A. Meeks and T.S. Perry were dispatched to the accident at 4:59 a.m. and found both drivers trapped in their vehicles, which both had heavy front-end damage, police said.

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