PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said it will likely be a few weeks before determining if impairment played a factor in a single-vehicle rollover that claimed the life of two Gila Valley residents.
In a Dec. 14 e-mail to Gila Valley Central, a DPS spokesman said, “We would be waiting on blood results from the Medical Examiner’s Office, which may take several weeks” in determining if the male, 28-year-old driver was impaired.
The crash occurred on U.S. Highway 70, just east of the U.S. Highway 191 North interchange at mile marker 355, just after 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5.
The vehicle went off the roadway and rolled several times, ejecting the driver and a 54-year-old woman, both of whom were pronounced dead on the scene. Neither had been wearing seatbelts.
Two children, one 2 years old and the other 4 years old, both suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the crash, and were transported via ambulance to Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center before being airlifted to Tucson for treatment. The 2 year old was restrained during the crash; however, the 4 year old was not wearing a seatbelt or in a child safety seat.
Graham County Sheriff’s deputies assisted DPS in investigating the scene and Arizona Department of Transportation assisted with traffic control.
