Crimora man killed in head-on collision

A Crimora man died during his morning commute to work Thursday after losing control of his car and slamming head-on into a pickup truck on U.S. 340, police said.

Virginia State Police said they’re still trying to learn what caused Austin Glenn Jerkins, 20, to swerve his 1995 Ford Escort wagon into oncoming traffic in the 3000 block of the two-lane highway.

“The Ford [Escort], for whatever reason, was losing control,” said state police Sgt. Frank Pyanoe. “At this point I’m estimating it was a high rate of speed.”

Signs posted along the damp stretch of road mark the speed limit at 55 mph.

Noticing the swerving Escort, Hatton Lamar Oly, 33, of Grottoes, slowed his 1998 Ford F-150 to avoid a collision, authorities said.

His efforts were in vain.

Jerkins crossed completely into the southbound lane and crashed head-on into the maroon truck.

The impact of the crash ripped the engine from the body of the Escort and ejected Jerkins onto the road, the trooper said. The engine landed in a cow pasture almost 70 feet away, leaving a trail of dead grass where battery acid seared it brown.

Police said Jerkins, who was on his way to work in Harrisonburg, was pronounced dead on the scene. Rescue crews took Oly to Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg for non-life threatening leg injuries.

Walking away from the scene of rescue workers and cleanup crews, a woman who’d dialed 911 fell to her knees in a nearby yard and wailed. Pyanoe said she had been following Oly in her own car when the crash occurred.

Jerkins worked at The Wood Grill on Reservoir Street in Harrisonburg. The owner of the restaurant, William Proffitt, said the mood Thursday was solemn.

“He has worked here since the day we opened,” Proffitt said. “As a matter of fact, for the last two years he’s been on our management team.”

He said most employees become managers in their early twenties, whereas Jerkins made the ranking at 19.

“He was just a go-getter,” Proffitt said. “Full of energy and self confidence. I just cannot say enough good things about him.”

At the scene of the crash, traffic was backed up for almost three hours, halting a lengthy line of commuters and freight trucks.

A half-dozen truckers exited their vehicles and clustered in the road, craning to see. One shook his head.

“A shame, he was a young guy,” he said. 

Pyanoe said he does not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash. Several members of a state police crash reconstruction team were on scene to better deduce what happened, he said.