Police report 6 deaths through first part of holiday weekend

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — The first few days of the three-day Memorial Day weekend were deadly in the Mountain State. Police reported deaths in ATV wrecks in McDowell, Upshur and Mason counties—along with separate drownings that claimed lives in the Buckhannon and Little Kanawha rivers.

State police identified the victim in a Saturday afternoon ATV crash in McDowell County as Claymon Rutledge, 55. The wreck occurred in the community of Jenkinjones.

A woman, believed to be in her 20s, died at a hospital Saturday afternoon following an ATV crash on a road course near Philippi. The crash is being investigated by the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department.

Brian Smith, 22, of Glenwood, died Saturday evening after an ATV wreck on Bear Hollow Road in Mason County. Sheriff’s deputies are investigating.

A teenage boy drowned in the Buckhannon River Saturday night, according to Upshur County authorities. The 18-year-old was pulled from the river near Sago.

The Parkersburg Fire Department has identified the 19-year-old man who drowned in the Little Kanawha River Friday night. Cody McConnell was swimming with friends near Point Park when he began to struggle.

A Saturday morning traffic accident in Nicholas County claimed the life of a woman identified as Alicia Nicole Meadows. She drove her vehicle out of the parking lot of Crazy Eight bar in Craigsville into the path of a large truck.

Meadows was thrown from her vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.





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