FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Four Injured in Telluride Black Bear Rollover
Contact: Susan Lilly, Public Information Officer 970-729-2028
susanl@sanmiguelsheriff.org
September 3, 2017 -- (Telluride, CO) – Deputies and multiple agencies responded to the Bridal Veil Falls area in Telluride for a single vehicle rollover with seven unrestrained occupants, including three children. Four people, including one child, were injured.
Deputies, Telluride Fire Protection District EMS and Fire, and Telluride Marshals Officers were dispatched to Black Bear Road at approximately 4:35pm Sunday. Multiple deputies, more than a dozen EMS and fire personnel and three ambulances responded.
The seven occupants were all family members from Farmington, New Mexico. The 66 year-old driver says he blacked out while driving, just after possibly choking on some water.
Multiple bystanders, some who witnessed the event, stopped to assist until EMS arrived.
Witnesses state the car rolled three quarters over, landing on the passenger’s side and then sliding approximately 100 feet before coming to a stop.
All parties were assessed by Telluride EMS and transported to the Telluride Regional Medical Center. One patient was then flown to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction with what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.
Sheriff Bill Masters said this family is incredibly lucky, “You can not travel this narrow, dangerous road with unrestrained children and other passengers. It’s criminally and morally wrong.”
Sheriff Masters also wished to thank the dozens of responders from multiple agencies, “This is a great example of how all of our agencies come together in an emergency like this one where there are multiple patients in a precarious location, and they get the job done professionally and efficiently.”
No drugs or alcohol are believed to have played a role in the accident. Colorado State Patrol is investigating.
Hundreds of vehicles are expected to travel Black Bear Road this holiday weekend.
###
The San Miguel Sheriff’s Office, located in Telluride, Colorado and established in 1883, serves 7,800 residents and countless visitors across the 1,288 square miles of San Miguel County. Sheriff Bill Masters has been serving as the county’s elected Sheriff since 1980.