Two rollovers

Just one day after a car smashed through the Patagonia Public School campus, two cars lost control and rolled near the Elgin School.

Kevin Venos, battalion chief for the Sonoita�“Elgin Fire District, said on Oct. 7 at 2:15 p.m. his department received a call from the Elgin School reporting that a car had rolled “several times” at the entrance to Wagon Wheel Lane, located less than a half-mile from the school’s entrance. Emergency personnel immediately asked that an air-ambulance be put on standby and also requested a ground ambulance from Tubac Medic 738 to respond.

“When we got there the driver was strapped in his seat upside down. We were able to extricate him and take him out of the vehicle,” said Venos. As children looked on from buses leaving the school, Air-Evac 22 out of Sierra Vista landed on State Route 83 and evacuated the victim to an area hospital. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, which was in charge of the investigation, said the accident remains under investigation and therefore would not release the name of the driver.

Venos said emergency personnel had just left the accident scene on Wagon Wheel Lane and were heading back to the Sonoita fire station when at 3:16 p.m. a second rollover was reported just 2.5 miles south of the first rollover, at mile marker 24.7 on SR 83.

“When we got there, there was a bunch of Border Patrol on scene,” said Venos. “The only occupant was out of the vehicle.” Venos said the patient refused treatment and transport.

Custody

Border Patrol agents took the driver, Lindsey Mannino, 32, of Tucson, into custody. Agent Jorge Alex Gomez said 453 pounds of marijuana were found inside the vehicle.

Officer Joy Craig, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said the 2008 Toyota pick-up Mannino was allegedly driving had been reported stolen in Phoenix.

Craig said Border Patrol agents told DPS investigators that they were following the pick-up as it headed northbound on SR 83. Craig said when the pick-up entered a curve, agents turned on their emergency lights to stop the vehicle but for an “unknown reason” the driver continued going straight, causing the truck to leave the road. Craig said the driver overcorrected and the pick-up rolled over, sliding off the road where it then hit a tree.

“Border Patrol was not in pursuit and, due to the curve in the road, did not see the collision occur,” said Craig. When asked by The Weekly Bulletin if the two accidents might be related, Craig said, “There is no known connection between the two collisions.”