WINSLOW — A Belgrade man traveling with a 13-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene Tuesday evening of a single-vehicle crash on China Road, police said Wednesday.
It appears Eric Drown, 44, lost control of the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee he was driving and the SUV left the road and hit a utility pole, according to Chief Leonard Macdaid of the Winslow Police Department.
“He got partially ejected out of the vehicle,” Macdaid said.
He said it appeared Drown was not wearing a seat belt. His 13-year-old passenger, however, was wearing a seat belt and was not injured in the crash, according to Macdaid.
“That’s the good part of the story,” he said. “He walked away OK.”
Macdaid declined to release the boy’s name, but confirmed Drown and the boy were related.
Macdaid said neither alcohol nor drugs were a factor in the crash.
Police Sgt. Alex Jones said Tuesday night after officers left the scene the Cherokee was being driven east on China Road, which is also state Route 137, at about 5:45 p.m. when the crash occurred near Reynolds and Randall roads. Jones said the crash happened in the area of 604 China Road.
Winslow police and firefighters responded to the scene and closed China Road to traffic, detouring vehicles to Randall Road until rescue workers left the scene at about 8 p.m., according to Jones.
A Facebook page for an Eric Drown in Belgrade describes him as a stay-at-home parent from Fairfield who attended Zephyrhills High School, northeast of Tampa, Florida.
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