1 dead, 2 injured after pickup crash

LYONS, Ore. - A driver died and his two passengers suffered serious injuries when a pickup went off the road and hit a tree Thursday night.

Emergency crews spent an hour pulling the survivors from the wreckage of the mangled truck.

A dog in the truck was found OK.

The emergency response started after resident of West McCully Mountain Road in Lyons called 911 after hearing a loud crash and someone screaming for help just after 8 p.m.
The caller found a severely damaged 2001 Chevrolet pickup had crashed into a large tree down a steep embankment off the road.

Firefighters and medics from Lyons, Sublimity, Stayton and Santiam responded to the scene.

The crews worked for over an hour to free the injured passengers from the wreckage.

The driver, Jeremy William Pierce, 25, was found dead, trapped in the driver seat. Thes sheriff's office said Pierce was not wearing a seat belt, and the driverside airbag did not deploy.

The passenger in the front seat, Skye Maley, 23, of Mill City was taken to Santiam Memorial Hospital in Stayton with serious non-life threatening injuries. Maley was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash and the front passenger side airbag had deployed, the sheriff's office said.

The second passenger seated in the back seat of the extra cab portion of the pickup was Samantha Letterman, 20, of Lyons.

Letterman was taken by ground ambulance to the Mari-Linn Elementary School in Lyons where she was then flown by REACH helicopter to Salem Memorial hospital with serious non-life threatening injuries.

Letterman was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision, the sheriff's office said.

Linn County Sheriff's deputies were assisted by members of the Albany Police Department working as part of Linn County Major Accident Investigation Team. West McCully Mountain Road was closed for approximately four hours during the investigation.

Alcohol, excessive speed and reckless driving appear to be factors in the crash, the sheriff's office said.