Delaware State Police released details Thursday about two separate fatal crashes that occurred the day before, including that a man has been charged in connection with the Wednesday morning crashes that killed a 63-year-old Bear man.
The charged man, a 39-year-old New Castle resident, is facing several offenses including second-degree vehicular homicide. The man has been released from custody after posting more than $4,000 secured bail.
In that incident, police said the New Castle man was driving a 2016 Cadillac ATS north on Route 13 about 7:30 a.m. in the area of Gracelawn Memorial Park cemetery near New Castle. The Cadillac, according to police, was being driven in an erratic manner and was quickly changing from the right lane to the middle lane to the left lane.
During one of those lane changes, police said the Cadillac struck a 2016 Kia Sorento that was being driven by the 63-year-old Bear man.
The force of the impact pushed the Kia into the left turn lane, where it continued into the south lanes of Route 13 and the path of a 2006 International 4500, police said. The Kia and medium-duty truck collided head-on.
The Kia driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
His identification is pending notification to the next of kin.
The operator of the International, a 67-year-old man, was taken to an area hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The Cadillac driver was not injured.
About 5 and a half hours later, police said a 2003 Subaru Legacy was heading south on Bayside Drive east of Dover.
After passing Pickering Beach Road, police said the Subaru’s driver failed to negotiate a curve and left the roadway. The driver, an 18-year-old Woodside woman, overcorrected her steering, resulting in the Subaru reentering the road while spinning.
The Subaru continued until it left the other side of the roadway, where it rolled over.
The driver was taken to an area hospital and treated for not life-threatening injuries.
Her passenger, a 20-year-old Woodside man, however, was not wearing his seatbelt, according to police, and sustained fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
His identification is pending notification to his family and relatives.
The two fatal crashes push Delaware closer to its deadliest year for traffic fatalities.
Wednesday’s crashes were the state’s 159th and 160th traffic deaths so far this year. That’s five away from the 1988 record that saw 165, according to the Delaware Department of Transportation.
For subscribers:Why more and more people are being killed on Delaware roads
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com.
