A Paonia man was killed Tuesday when the vehicle he was in plummeted off a mountain road in Delta County and flipped 800 feet down a steep embankment, the Colorado State Patrol said.
Searchers used gear to repel down the embankment and recover the body of Alfred Rankin, 36, who was partially ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene, State Patrol Cpl. Duane Larson said.
The victim’s wife, Leticia Rankin, 29, was the driver and avoided serious injury, police said. She was cited for careless driving resulting in death, Larson said.
The single-vehicle crash happened about 12:45 p.m., on Colorado Highway 92 about 25 miles east of Crawford.
The Rankins were traveling from their home in Paonia to Gunnison in a 2000 Dodge Durango.
Larson said Leticia Rankin was driving too fast around a downhill curve and the rear of her Durango began sliding. Rankin over-corrected the vehicle and it began a clockwise spin as it went off the highway, he added.
The speed limit in the area if 35 mph, with precautionary speed limits of 20 mph around curves. Larson said the Durango was traveling about 40 mph when Rankin lost control.
“She was just going too fast for the curves,” Larson said.
After the vehicle came to a stop, Rankin managed to pull herself from the wreckage, climb back up to the highway and flag down a passing motorist.
She was taken to Delta County Memorial Hospital, where she was being held overnight for observation, Larson said.
