Man dies
of injuries
from crash
By BOB EVANS
Staff Writer
YORK --
A Gloucester
County man
was killed early
Tuesday after
the roof of his
pickup truck was
sheared by an
airborne station wagon.
The driver of
the station
wagon was charged with
man-
slaughter and drunken driving.
Stephen W. Keller,
37, of
Hayes, died at Mary Immaculate
Hospital in Newport News
about
10:20 a.m. from massive injuries
suffered in
the 7 a.m. accident
on Route 17 about a mile
south
of the George P. Coleman Me-
morial
Bridge, said State
Trooper P. J. Freeman.
Michael W. Hancock of Ni-
chols Place, Newport News,
was
charged with manslaughter,
driving
under the influence and
reckless driving, Freemen
said.
Hancock suffered chest, spinal
and facial
injuries in the wreck
and was listed in
serious condi-
tion in the trauma unit of
Nor-
folk General Hospital.
The trooper said Hancock got
off work
at Newport News Ship-
building about 11 p.m. Monday.
At
the time of the accident, he
had a
blood-alcohol
content in
excess of 0.15 - the presumed
level
of intoxication in Virginia,
Freemen said.
Hancock's compact
station
wagon was traveling at an unde-
termined
speed north on Route
17 about a half-mile from the Co-
lonial
Parkway when it crossed
over the grass median strip
and
became airborne, Freeman said.
Hancock's car hit the top of
the left
rear fender of a sedan
driven by a
Gloucester woman
in the southbound lane.
It continued through the
air
about four to five feet off
the
ground and sheared the top off
Keller's
southbound compact
pickup, Freeman said.
The station wagon then flew
over the guardrail
nine feet from
the roadway and hit a tree about
a car length from the guardrail.
Ironically, Keller saw a televi-
sion program
that prompted him
to install a roll bar on the pickup
to enhance
the safety about two
weeks ago, Freeman said.
The roll bar helped
deflect
the station wagon but not suffi-
ciently
to spare Keller, Freeman
said. Hancock's car hit the pick-
up's
roof at about a 45 degree
angle before
glancing off the
rollbar.
Hancock was taken to Mary
Immaculate
by an ambulance
and from there
was flown by the
Nightingale emergency rescue
helicopter
to Norfolk General,
Freeman said.
The driver of the sedan was
not injured,
Freeman said.
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