January 9, 2023
By News Director Jared Atha
The Texas Department of Public Safety has reported two fatal crashes occurring over the weekend.
The first occurred in Collingsworth County at around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, when DPS officials said 52-year-old Oran Starkey III of Childress, Texas was traveling southbound on US-83 near Wellington, Texas in a pickup at an unsafe speed and failed to negotiate a curve, causing him to veer off the roadway.
DPS said after leaving the roadway, the pickup traveled into the west-side ditch, where it struck a road sign and flipped end-over-end, ejecting Starkey from the pickup.
DPS said Starkey was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Officials said the pickup then came to rest on the roadway on its right side facing north.
A separate accident occurred on Sunday night just before 11:30 p.m. when DPS officials say a Dodge driven by 28-year-old Timothy Currie of Oklahoma City was traveling eastbound on SH-152, eight miles west of Sweetwater, when he veered off the roadway and traveled into the south ditch, where it rolled over, ejecting Currie.
The Dodge came to rest upside down in the ditch. Currie was pronounced dead on scene.
DPS said both wrecks remain under investigation.
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