A two-vehicle accident in the early morning hours Sunday resulted in the deaths of two Elk County residents.
According to Ridgway-based state police, a 2011 Chevrolet Colorado driven by Tony Eckert, 35, of Saint Marys, was traveling west on Bingham Road in Ridgway Township at 12:36 a.m. The vehicle, according to police, was traveling at a high rate of speed.
Police reports indicate the vehicle failed to negotiate a sharp right curve and went over an embankment, rolled onto the driver’s side and struck a tree.
Both Eckert and a passenger, Kenneth Gasbarre, Jr., 33, of Ridgway, were pronounced dead at the scene. Gasbarre was riding in the front passenger seat.
According to Elk County Coroner Michelle Muccio, the two men were pronounced dead at 1:59 a.m. “Both decedents were unrestrained and sustained fatal, blunt force trauma injuries to the head, chest, and extremities,” Muccio said. “Alcohol and speed are believed to be a factor in this accident and it is unknown if cell phone use was a factor. The manners of death have been ruled accidental.”
A second passenger, Annamarie Pounds, 21, of Johnsonburg, was in the back seat and was injured in the crash. Police say she was transported via ambulance for treatment of suspected minor injuries.
