A 69-year-old woman died when she was thrown from a pickup truck that rolled in Wyoming, a truck that was carrying three children from Colorado.
The fatal, one-vehicle crash happened at about 3:28 p.m. Monday on U.S. Highway 287 just north of the Colorado border in Albany County, according to a Wyoming Highway Patrol media release.
Killed in the crash was Irene Bencomo, of Chihuahua, Mexico. Bencomo, who was sitting in a rear seat, was not buckled-in, the highway patrol said.
The children, ages 5, 8 and 17, from Fort Lupton, were not injured. The 8-year-old and the teenager, who were sitting in the front of the truck, were both buckled-in. The 5-year-old, who was in the back, was not in a restraint or wearing a seat-belt.
The driver, Alvaro Marquez, 43, of Lakin, Kan., was driving a 2007 Ford F-150 southbound on highway 287 in a driving rain when he failed to negotiate a curve and wound up on the highway shoulder, the highway patrol said.
Marquez then “oversteered” the truck and went into a broadside slide down the highway. The truck left the road and rolled down an embankment 1 1/2 times.
Marquez, who was wearing a seat-belt, was not injured.
Maria Sanez, 45, of Lakin, Kan., a rear passenger who was not wearing a seat-belt, was taken to Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie. Details on her injuries were not released.
Investigators suspect Marquez was inattentive and driving too fast for road conditions at the time of the crash. He has been cited for careless driving and non-use of a proper child restraint.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
