This story has been updated to correct the time of the crash.
HANCOCK COUNTY — A Virginia man and his mother were killed Saturday morning when the car he was driving struck a semi-trailer truck illegally parked on the shoulder of an Interstate 70 exit ramp.
The crash occurred shortly after 7 a.m. Sept. 19 near the westbound rest stop off the interstate east of Greenfield. Captain Robert Harris with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department told the Daily Reporter in an email that a Freightliner semi driven by Abdirisak Rashid Dekow, 35, Logan, Utah, was parked on the north side shoulder of the exit ramp to the rest park to rest. The semitrailer’s parking lights were illuminated, but it was illegally parked; it was right between two no-parking signs on that side of the shoulder.
A Volkswagen Passat hatchback driven by Juan Mendez, 63, Stafford, Virginia, struck the back of the semi. Mendez’s mother, Jean Mendez Foy, 85, Orlando, Florida, was a front-seat passenger. Both were killed in the crash.
Harris said there were no skid marks prior to impact and that investigators don’t think Mendez ever touched the brakes.
“The apparent path of travel put him clear of running over any rumble strips prior to hitting the rear of the trailer,” Harris said in his email. “The initial opinion is he may have fallen asleep while driving.”
Harris added Mendez worked in Washington, D.C., and had picked up his mother in the New York area. He was driving her to Denver for medical treatment.
Harris added autopsies were scheduled. Harris also said Dekow admitted he knew he wasn’t supposed to park on the ramp’s shoulder and was issued a citation for the parking violation.
