Clearwater County man dies in Lester Creek rollover

The truck rolled down a steep embankment. The driver was declared dead at the scene.

An Ahsahka, Idaho, man died in a one-vehicle rollover crash on Lester Creek Road, approximately 4 miles west of Pine, Saturday.

The driver, identified as Mark Carl Crawford, 47, was driving a 1992 GMC Sierra pickup truck traveling westbound on Lester Creek Road when he failed to negotiate a right-hand curve. "The road turned, he went straight," said Deputy Michael K. Gelalia of the Elmore County Sheriff's Office. Road conditions were icy at the time.

The truck left the roadway on the left shoulder and rolled one-and-a-quarter times down a steep embankment coming to rest on the driver's side approximately 60 feet below the road, ECSO Deputy Farrell Ramsey said. Crawford and his truck were discovered by a passerby some time after the accident and reported to authorities about 2 p.m. Precisely when the wreck took place is not known.

Personnel from the Elmore County Sheriff's Office, Pine EMS, Elmore County Extrication and Elmore Ambulance Service responded.

Crawford was not wearing a seatbelt and was not ejected from the vehicle but, sustained severe injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

He had been working in the area as a logger and had been staying in Pine.

The investigation is on-going.

Crawford was born in Orofino, but currently lives in Ahsahka, just north of Orofino in Clearwater County.