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June 30, 2009

Woman dies after crash

Press staff reports

STILWELL – A Stilwell woman died Saturday morning in a single-vehicle crash east of Stilwell.

Cynthia D. Hancock, 54, was driving west on State Highway 51 when she ran off the road for an unknown reason. She overcorrected and went off the road again and hit a tree.

Hancock, driving a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her condition and the cause of the crash is listed as unknown. Hancock was not wearing her seat belt and the air bag did deploy in the vehicle. The crash was investigated by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Meridith assisted by Adair County sheriff’s deputies and the Stilwell Fire Department.

In an unrelated collision, a Coweta teenager was listed in critical condition Saturday after a crash east of Wagoner on Toppers Road.

Autumn Danielle Rankin, 13, was a passenger in a 1997 Mercury Villager van driven by Robyn Rankin, 32. Rankin was treated at Wagoner Community Hospital and released. Four other passengers in the van were not injured.

OHP reports state Rankin was eastbound on a county road and failed to negotiate a curve before running off the right side of the road and going into a broadslide. The vehicle hit a gate post and overturned on its top. Autumn Rankin was ejected from the window and then hit by the vehicle. She suffered head injuries and was flown to St. Francis Hospital.

Autumn was not wearing a seat belt. The cause of the crash is listed as unsafe speed on a curve.

The crash was investigated by OHP Trooper Steve Hash assisted by OHP Trooper Greg Jennings, Wagoner EMS and Toppers Fire Department.

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The use of cell phones while driving is increasingly becoming an issue. What do you think about cell phone use by emergency personnel, like law enforcement officers, EMTs, firemen, etc.?

• If the law allows the common citizen to use cell phones while driving, emergency personnel should be able to also.
• Emergency personnel should be held to a higher standard. Since they are often driving faster than normal, they should not be allowed to use cell phones while driving, even if other citizens can.
• They should be allowed to use them like anyone else, but their host entities (hospitals, fire departments, cities, etc.) should carry extra insurance for this reason.
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