Fire crews deal with a major accident west of Vale Monday afternoon that left one man dead. (Pat Caldwell/Malheur Enterprise)
VALE – A fiery crash west of Vale Monday afternoon left one man dead and forced closure of U.S. Highway 20 for more than three hours.
According to the Oregon State Police, the three-vehicle crash occurred at 2:50 p.m. at the intersection of Bench Road and U.S. Highway 20.
Police said an eastbound 2019 Nissan Rogue, operated by Timothy Eviston, 57, of Winnsboro, South Carolina, tried to pass a motorhome and collided head-on with a 2011 Ford F-350 pickup truck, operated by Jacob Price, 30, Ontario, traveling west. The impact launched the pickup into a 2018 Ford Expedition pulling a 31-foot travel trailer and operated by Guillermo Fonseca, 33, of Eagle, Idaho. When the pickup hit the Expedition, both vehicles caught fire.
Eviston died instantly, police said. Price was transported by ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, Ontario.
Police said a juvenile riding in the Expedition was taken by air ambulance to a Boise hospital. Fonseca and Amy Dancer, 40, also of Eagle, Idaho, and two other juveniles in the Expedition were transported by ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, Ontario.
The motorhome was not damaged. The crash is still under investigation.
The Oregon State Police, the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office, the Vale Fire Department and ambulance, along with state transportation workers, responded to the scene.
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Fire crews deal with a major accident west of Vale Monday afternoon. (Pat Caldwell/Malheur Enterprise)
