The third traffic fatality on U.S. Highway 290 East within the space of 3½ months was recorded at 4:25 p.m. Friday about four miles east of Fredericksburg.

Dying in the three-vehicle accident that also marked Gillespie County’s fourth highway death of 2008 was Pamela Louise Cujko, 43, of Fredericksburg.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Jay Rios who investigated, Ms. Cujko died when her 1996 Chevrolet Lumina, which had been headed toward Fredericksburg in the outside lane of 290, crossed both westbound lanes and struck head-on an eastbound 2007 GMC Sierra pickup driven in the inside lane by Amber Liscum, 32, of Bandera.

A third vehicle — a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse driven also in the east-bound inside lane behind Mrs. Liscum’s truck by her husband, Jeremy Liscum, 32, of Bandera — swerved to the right to avoid hitting the Sierra, the trooper reported.

However, Rios said Mr. Liscum could not get completely out the way of the truck which ended up side-swiping the driver’s side of his car.

Ms. Cujko’s vehicle ended up near the center of the highway, while the pickup truck came to rest on the passenger side just off the east-bound pavement.

Mrs. Liscum and her ten-year-old daughter, Lindy Liscum, who was a right-front passenger in the truck, were transported by an Air-Life medical helicopter to University Hospital in San Antonio.

Neither Mr. Liscum nor the couple’s four-year-old daughter, Reygen Liscum, who had been riding in a booster seat in the back seat of her father’s car, was reportedly injured in the accident.

Rios said all four members of the Liscum family were seat- belted in their two vehicles.

However, he said, Ms. Cujko, who was the lone occupant of her car, was not wearing a seat belt.

Ms. Cujko, formerly of Hondo, was pronounced dead at the scene of Friday’s accident by Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Louis Rech.

A funeral service for Ms. Cujko was scheduled for 2 p.m. today at First Methodist Church in Hondo.

According to a University Hospital spokesman yesterday, both Mrs. Liscum and daughter Lindy Liscum were recovering from their injuries in the Alamo City medical center.

Besides DPS troopers and the Air-Life medical team members, other emergency personnel responding to Friday afternoon’s accident included Fredericksburg and Stonewall Volunteer Fire Department members, Fredericksburg EMS attendants and Gillespie County Sheriff’s Department officers.

Prior to Friday’s accident, which occurred 0.7 mile east of the eastern Goehmann Lane intersection, two other fatalities have been recorded this year east of Fredericksburg on U.S. Highway 290.

On Feb. 20, Marlayna Smith, 24, of Junction died in a head-on accident 0.3 miles west of Stonewall.

Nearly one month later, Deanna Brooks, 54, of Fredericksburg died March 17, one day after a multi-vehicle accident three miles east of Fredericksburg at the intersection of 290 and RM 1376.

Gillespie County’s first of four 2008 traffic fatalities occurred Feb. 5, 14 miles northwest of Kerrville on Interstate Highway 10 when Jerald Meyerdirk, 62, of College Station died in a pickup truck rollover.

Source Fredericksburgstandard.com

Trackback URI | Comments RSS