Boat left launched off its trailer and crashed through cab

Note: The Boat should have not flown off the trailer if it was properly secured.
Bruce Colbert/The Daily Courier
Workers clear debris from a 15-car pileup Sunday afternoon on northbound Highway 89 at Del Rio Springs near Paulden. Blowing sand and dirt created a brownout resulting in a rear-end chain reaction. The boat in photo at left launched off its trailer and crashed through the rear window of the owner’s pickup.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, a dense cloud of dirt and grit blinded northbound travelers on Highway 89 between Chino Valley and Paulden creating a chain reaction of rear-end collisions that resulted in a 15-car pileup and sent three people to Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott.

"It was a freaky accident and I was only a mile from my house," accident victim Patti Allen said on her cell phone while waiting for law enforcement staff to release her.

"The road was so full of dust you could not see a thing and we slowed way down," she said breaking into sobs as she recalled the trauma. "Then all of a sudden it cleared and I could see the car in front of me slamming on his brakes and then we hit it."

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, a dense cloud of dirt and grit blinded northbound travelers on Highway 89 between Chino Valley and Paulden creating a chain reaction of rear-end collisions that resulted in a 15-car pileup and sent three people to Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott.

"It was a freaky accident and I was only a mile from my house," accident victim Patti Allen said on her cell phone while waiting for law enforcement staff to release her.

"The road was so full of dust you could not see a thing and we slowed way down," she said breaking into sobs as she recalled the trauma. "Then all of a sudden it cleared and I could see the car in front of me slamming on his brakes and then we hit it."

The pileup started near milepost 333 about 300 feet north of a bridge at Del Rio Springs. For some of the accident victims, a historical marker along the side of the road that explains about the site being the first location of Camp Whipple in 1863 will forever mark the horrific scene.

Ken Gage and Justin Ward were towing their boat home from Alamo Lake when they encountered the brownout. They were vehicle No. 6 in the accident line-up.

"It was really dark, dark and brown and we could not see in front of us," Gage said. "All of a sudden it cleared and we saw that blue car and I just locked up the brakes," said Ward, who was driving the full-size pickup.

As the truck came to a screeching halt, the boat it was towing launched off its trailer and slammed into a half-shell mounted on the bed of the pickup. The boat's bow crashed through the fiberglass shell and stopped after it broke through the cab's rear window.

"We didn't know what was happening," Gage said. "Glass just came showering in on us." The boaters escaped without injuries.

Ambulances rushed three victims from the scene: a woman with a head injury; a man with chest pains; and a man with "some anxiety," Garcia said.

Chino Valley police stopped northbound Highway 89 traffic at Road 5 North about two miles south of the accident. Traffic officers blocked the road for nearly two hours and traffic backed up into Chino Valley.

Prescott Fire Battalion Chief Ralph Lucas said that rescue crews treated the accident as a "mass casualty incident."

Fire and medical crews triaged every person involved in the accident whether they had an injury or not. Medical staff tied a triage tag on the wrists of each person involved, Lucas explained.

As the wait dragged on, motorists pulled off into clearings and left their cars to talk to other motorists. Some drivers turned on their automobile radios and a festive-like mood seemed to develop among the stranded travelers.

"What can you do?" Bagdad miner and Paulden resident Carlos Fonte said while he waited in his car for the road to open.

At 3:50 p.m. officers started escorting groups of vehicles north and south. At 4:50 p.m. "we cleared the scene," Lucas said.

CORRECTION: The original version of this story incorrectly stated where Lucas works.