MERCER COUNTY, W.Va. — A Summers County man was killed in a car accident early Saturday morning in Mercer County after being thrown out of the vehicle he was driving.
Deputies with the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department identified the victim as Jonathan Tyler Blankenship, 24, of Pipestem who died in the wreck in the Athens area. The crash happened shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday.
Investigators said Blankenship was not wearing a seat belt when his vehicle slid in loose gravel, ran off the road and rolled onto its roof.
According to reports, a passenger in Blankenship’s vehicle, also 24, was wearing a seat belt, survived the crash and was treated at Princeton Community Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.