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Source: http://lsp.org/news_detail.html?id=3580

id cleanReleaseDate troopName title
3580 2013-02-27 Troop D Fatal Crash in Beauregard Parish
TROOP D NEWS RELEASE
February 27, 2013
Fatal Crash in Beauregard Parish

DeRidder, LA- On February 26, 2013, at 9:41 p.m., Louisiana State Police Troop D responded to a single vehicle crash on Pleasant Hill Road 1.4 miles west of U.S. Highway 171 in Beauregard Parish that claimed the life of a man from DeRidder.

The preliminary investigation revealed that a 2000 Ford pickup truck driven by 45-year-old Richard C. West of DeRidder was traveling west on Pleasant Hill Road at a high rate of speed when the road surface changed from asphalt to packed gravel. At this point, the vehicle ran off the right side of the road. West overcorrected causing the pickup truck to run off the left side of the road and through a ditch. The vehicle then rolled several times before striking a large pine tree on the passenger side of the vehicle.

West, who was not wearing a seatbelt, received fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Excessive speed and impairment are suspected to be factors in the crash. A toxicology sample was obtained from West and will be submitted for analysis. The crash remains under investigation.

Louisiana law requires motor vehicle occupants to be properly restrained in every seating position, day and night. Wearing a seatbelt reduces the likelihood of being seriously injured or killed as the result of a crash. Buckle up Louisiana. Every trip. Every time.

This is the second fatal crash investigated by Louisiana State Police Troop D this year.

Contact Information:
Sgt. James Anderson
Louisiana State Police
Public Affairs Section
Office: (337) 491-2932
james.anderson@dps.la.gov
www.LSP.org

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