One killed, two injured in truck crash

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2001-10-17

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One killed, two injured in truck crash By MARK FREEMAN ASHLAND - After spending Sunday evening deer hunting, Matthew McCammon and friends Jason Sampson and Ryan Fetty rifled through six hot dogs and three cans of chili for dinner, had a few beers and couldn't shake their hunger pangs. "We ran out of food, so we headed to town for some chips and things," Fetty said. But the trio never made it. McCammon lost control of his pickup truck while driving along a backwoods U.S. Forest Service road and crashed, killing himself and slightly injuring Fetty and Sampson when the pickup tumbled down a steep hillside, authorities said. The pickup rolled several times 200 feet down an embankment, coming to rest against a tree, Jackson County Sheriff's Sgt. Dace Cochran said. McCammon, 22, of Medford, was pinned beneath the pickup and was pronounced dead at the scene of the 10 p.m. crash, Cochran said. Fetty, 19, of Medford, said he and Sampson, 20, of McMinnville, were tossed out through the pickup's broken windshield and walked away from the wreck. Neither of the men were wearing seat belts, and Cochran said alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the wreck. Fetty said McCammon "probably had four or five beers in him" before the crash, but said the men were not intoxicated at the time of the wreck. Deputies found about two-dozen empty beer cans at the men's hunting camp, but no alcohol was found inside the McCammon's truck, Cochran said. The crash occurred near the 12-mile marker on Forest Service Road No. 20, and was reported to sheriff's deputies about 1:40 a.m. No further investigation was planned, deputies said. Fetty described McCammon, who he had known the past 10 years, as a "big, ol' teddy bear" who acted almost grandfatherly at times. "He was like the old guy who loved to tell stories," Fetty said. "Matt was always telling stories." The trio were hunting in the Dutchman Peak area for blacktail deer, and had set up a tent camp where they planned to spend Sunday night before hunting most of Monday, Fetty said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected]     Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.