Charges pending in fatal Coleman Bridge accident that pinned man between pickup and trailer
State Police said charges are pending against a 20-year-old Mathews woman involved in a fatal accident on the Coleman Bridge Saturday morning that diverted traffic for more than four hours.
A 2019 GMC Sierra pickup truck encountered a mechanical issue as it towed a trailer southbound on Route 17 just before 8 a.m., according to a news release Monday from State Police spokesman Matthew Demlein.
The driver pulled over to the right shoulder, and passenger Jose O. Salinas Estrada, 44, of Gloucester, got out to address the problem.
That’s when police said the Mathews woman — at the wheel of a 2018 Kia Forte sedan — veered to the right, striking the trailer and the truck.
Salinas Estrada was “pinned in between the vehicle and the trailer” and died at the scene, Demlein wrote.
The GMC’s driver, a 39-year-old Gloucester woman, was not injured, while the Kia’s driver suffered minor injuries. The Daily Press and Virginian-Pilot are not naming the Kia’s driver as the charges have not yet been filed.
The Coleman Bridge — which crosses the York River between Gloucester and York counties — has two travel lanes running in each direction. Each direction also has a narrow one-lane shoulder.
There were varying reports Saturday on whether the trailer and pickup were both fully on the shoulder at the time of the collision. But “the final crash report said both the trailer and vehicle were on the shoulder,” Demlein said in an email.
The accident and investigation caused major traffic issues in the area, according to a social media post Saturday morning from the Gloucester Sheriff’s Office. Traffic trying to get from Gloucester to York was re-routed through West Point and Interstate 64 until the early afternoon.
The bridge was reopened early Saturday afternoon. The crash remains under investigation.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, [email protected]
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