OURAY -- A freak rockfall Sunday, July 30, killed a man in a Jeep while traveling on the Camp Bird Road south of Ouray.
A 62-year old Texas man was driving downhill with his wife, as part of more than a dozen vehicles in a Jeep club, when a rock fell from above and crashed through the vehicle's soft-top roof, killing him instantly, according to officials.
''I've never seen anything quite like that,'' said Ouray County Sheriff Junior Mattivi. ''We're guessing it was about a 75-pound rock.''
According to Mattivi, the rock hit the Jeep on the driver's side, just behind the windshield.
''The passenger had the presence of mind to grab the steering wheel and steer into the mountainside,'' said Mattivi. ''Fortunately she did, otherwise we would've probably had two fatalities.''
That stretch of road, about five miles south of Ouray, has a nearly 400-foot drop on the outside edge, reported Mattivi. The Jeep ended up on its side.
Ouray County Emergency Medical Services Chief Paramedic Norm Rooker said bystanders removed both people from the Jeep started CPR on the man, bundling his wife for transport to the hospital. Members of the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team responded to the site of the accident, and assisted in recovering the man's body. Rooker said first bystanders, then emergency medical personnel worked to save the man, but he was beyond help.
''Ultimately, his injuries were too severe,'' said Rooker. ''After consulting with the Montrose Memorial Hospital emergency department, we transported him down to the ambulance barn and met the medical examiner and a representative from Crippin (funeral home).''
Meanwhile, Ouray Police Chief Tony Chelf intercepted the Jeep carrying the passenger, and assisted in her transfer to an ambulance, by which she was transported to the hospital in Montrose.
Mattivi said vehicles on Camp Bird Road are frequently hit by falling ice and rock, but nothing of this size.
''We go through there a lot, with little rocks falling, and we've been lucky,'' said Mattivi.
Even while crews were on-scene, smaller rocks were falling around them. ''We had to keep a person as a lookout while we were up there,'' said Mattivi, noting there was likely nothing the driver could have done to avoid the rockfall.
''This truly was a freak accident,'' he said.
