Grandview man dies in head-on crash

POMEROY — A Grandview man died Thursday attempting to pass another vehicle in a no-passing zone west of Pomeroy and colliding head-on with a semitractor operated by a Yakima man, according to the Washington State Patrol.

A third vehicle then struck the semitractor.

The patrol identified the dead man as Reyes Gonzalez Jr., 51.

According to the patrol, three people were taken to a hospital for treatment. The patrol earlier had said four were injured.

The injured were identified as Jerry Plunkett, 52, of Yakima, the driver of the semitractor; Debra Plunkett, 50, also of Yakima, a passenger in the rig; and a Boise, Idaho, woman who was a passenger in the third vehicle involved in the mishap. She is identified as 70-year-old Charlotte Carlton. She was in a 2000 Chevrolet pickup driven by Robert Carlton, 71.

Robert Carlton was not injured.

The Garfield hospital said the three people transported there from the accident were treated and released.

 The patrol, in an accident memorandum issued late Thursday night, said Gonzalez was eastbound on State Route 127, 10 miles west of Pomeroy in Garfield County, when he tried to pass another vehicle in a no-passing zone. His pickup collided with the GMC semitractor operated by Plunkett. The Carlton vehicle hit the rear of Plunkett’s vehicle.

The accident occurred at 12:41 p.m. Thursday.