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Pedestrian killed on U.S. 550
Teen cited for careless driving
Herald Staff Writer
Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald photos
Colorado State Patrol Sgt. Clint Rushing fills out paperwork as a La Plata County assistant coroner and Durango Fire & Rescue Authority medical personnel examine the body of a man who was struck and killed Monday morning while walking on the side of U.S. Highway 550 south of Trimble Lane.
Click image to enlarge
Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald photos
Rushing takes pictures of a vehicle off U.S. Highway 550 in a grassy field, where it came to rest after an accident Monday morning.
The victim was identified as Philip Gene Spotts, who lived in the Ranch subdivision. Spotts was known in the area for walking daily to the Hermosa Country Market or from Hermosa to Durango, an 11-mile trek.
The accident occurred at 10:36 a.m. on a straight stretch of highway near mile marker 29.5.
A red 2002 Saturn sport utility vehicle traveling southbound drifted off the right side of the road and struck Spotts, who was walking southbound toward Durango, said Sgt. Chad Martin, with the Colorado State Patrol. The vehicle was traveling about 60 mph, the posted speed limit, he said.
The driver was identified as Dawnelle Canaday, 18, of Durango. Her 12-year-old sister was in the passenger seat at the time. Neither was seriously injured; both were wearing seat belts.
"She was talking with her sister, and I think she was rolling down the window," Martin said.
Spotts was struck by the front passenger side of the vehicle. The impact knocked him 192 feet. One of his boots and a hat came to rest on the side of the highway. He died on impact.
The vehicle traveled 492 feet off the right side of the road into a grassy field and came to rest at the edge of some wetlands.
"They kind of made it clean all the way through the grassy field," Martin said.
Gary and Kathy Gibson, of Michigan, were traveling southbound about a quarter-mile behind the red Saturn when they saw a cloud of dust off the right side of the road. They didn't see the impact or any unusual driving before the accident, said Kathy Gibson.
"I didn't perceive anything unusual on the road," she said. "We saw a cloud of dust off to the right."
Martin said the driver will be cited with careless driving causing death.
shane@durangoherald.com
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