LIVERMORE — The victim of a fiery head-on crash on U.S. Highway 287 in Livermore late Friday night has not yet been identified.
The crash occurred about 10:30 p.m., when the victim, driving an SUV crossed into the southbound lane of U.S. 287 hitting a tractor-trailer full of apples, according to witnesses.
The crash crushed the front half of the victim’s SUV.
The truck driver, Veniamin Motoke, escaped unharmed before the cab burst into flames. Strong winds carried ash and sparks across the highway reducing visibility to nothing at times.
Flames reached about 30 feet high. By the time firefighters extinguished the blaze, there was little evidence of the truck’s cab.
Motoke, a driver for Gulick Trucking, was hauling a load of apples from Portland, Ore., to Houston when the SUV entered his path.
Motoke told the Coloradoan he tried to pull off onto the west shoulder of the road to avoid the crash but the victim’s car just kept coming toward him.
The driver of the SUV was dead at the scene.
Max Beavers of Glacier View Meadows, northwest of Livermore, watched the accident unfold.
He confirmed Motoke’s version of events and provided comfort to the truck driver as he waited for police in Beaver’s SUV.
Traffic on U.S. 287 was closed in both directions while firefighters extinguished the blaze and removed the wreckage.
Motoke was among a handful of people stranded on U.S. 287 who turned back to spend the night in Fort Collins.
Motoke was taken to a Fort Collins hotel.
It was snowing lightly at the time of the accident, but the roads were dry, according to witnesses. Friday night’s fatality was the third deadly crash on a 7-mile stretch of U.S. 287 near Livermore in the past three months.
Paramedic Brian J. Gould, 42, of Livermore was killed Nov. 16 when his Dodge Ram pickup truck crossed the center lane near Haystack Rock and hit a southbound tractor-trailer head on.
Gould was pronounced dead on the scene.
Gould was headed home to Livermore after finishing a night shift at Poudre Valley Hospital's east-side ambulance station.
It is still unclear why or how Gould’s vehicle veered out of its lane.
Two months later, on Jan. 16, Blasa "Patricia" Bustillos, 37, of Chihuahua, Mexico, died from blunt trauma to the chest and abdomen after being ejected from a car during a crash about two miles north of Livermore.
The accident occurred about 5:30 p.m., just north of County Road 80, when the car Bustillos was riding in attempted to pass two vehicles in the southbound lane and collided with a northbound vehicle.
The car, driven by Rebeca Perez, 31, skidded off the east side of the highway and Bustillos was ejected, according to CSP.
The crash occurred about 10:30 p.m., when the victim, driving an SUV crossed into the southbound lane of U.S. 287 hitting a tractor-trailer full of apples, according to witnesses.
The crash crushed the front half of the victim’s SUV.
The truck driver, Veniamin Motoke, escaped unharmed before the cab burst into flames. Strong winds carried ash and sparks across the highway reducing visibility to nothing at times.
Flames reached about 30 feet high. By the time firefighters extinguished the blaze, there was little evidence of the truck’s cab.
Motoke, a driver for Gulick Trucking, was hauling a load of apples from Portland, Ore., to Houston when the SUV entered his path.
Motoke told the Coloradoan he tried to pull off onto the west shoulder of the road to avoid the crash but the victim’s car just kept coming toward him.
The driver of the SUV was dead at the scene.
Max Beavers of Glacier View Meadows, northwest of Livermore, watched the accident unfold.
He confirmed Motoke’s version of events and provided comfort to the truck driver as he waited for police in Beaver’s SUV.
Traffic on U.S. 287 was closed in both directions while firefighters extinguished the blaze and removed the wreckage.
Motoke was among a handful of people stranded on U.S. 287 who turned back to spend the night in Fort Collins.
Motoke was taken to a Fort Collins hotel.
It was snowing lightly at the time of the accident, but the roads were dry, according to witnesses. Friday night’s fatality was the third deadly crash on a 7-mile stretch of U.S. 287 near Livermore in the past three months.
Paramedic Brian J. Gould, 42, of Livermore was killed Nov. 16 when his Dodge Ram pickup truck crossed the center lane near Haystack Rock and hit a southbound tractor-trailer head on.
Gould was pronounced dead on the scene.
Gould was headed home to Livermore after finishing a night shift at Poudre Valley Hospital's east-side ambulance station.
It is still unclear why or how Gould’s vehicle veered out of its lane.
Two months later, on Jan. 16, Blasa "Patricia" Bustillos, 37, of Chihuahua, Mexico, died from blunt trauma to the chest and abdomen after being ejected from a car during a crash about two miles north of Livermore.
The accident occurred about 5:30 p.m., just north of County Road 80, when the car Bustillos was riding in attempted to pass two vehicles in the southbound lane and collided with a northbound vehicle.
The car, driven by Rebeca Perez, 31, skidded off the east side of the highway and Bustillos was ejected, according to CSP.
