The Sheriff’s Office reported that there were three motor vehicle accidents in the county in a 48 hour period over the weekend. The first one reported was on April 20th at around 10:30 p.m. and came in as a one car rollover on HWY 45 about five miles north of Richland Springs. Sheriff’s Deputies, DPS, San Saba and Richland fire rescue and EMS responded to assist. The female driver, who was not injured, was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated and was transported to the county jail.

The second accident occurred on April 21st at around 12:30 a.m. and was reported to dispatch by some locals passing by. They called in and advised that they had found a motorcycle wrecked out on the shoulder of the roadway on FM 501 East about five or six miles east of Cherokee. Sheriff’s Deputies responded and after a short search a body was located in the brush alongside of the roadway. DPS troopers and Cherokee Fire Search and Rescue were called to the scene and an investigation was conducted. The victim, Lonnie Louis Sutton 57 of Elgin, Texas was pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Les Dawson. The cause of the crash is still under investigation being led by the Department of Public Safety. Sheriff Brown stated that alcohol is considered a factor in the crash.

The last accident occurred on April 22nd at around 4:50 p.m. on FM 501 East, two miles west of 580 and was again a one vehicle accident. San Saba Deputies, San Saba EMS and Fire Rescue and Cherokee Fire Rescue were dispatched to the scene. Two adult females and a small child were involved and were not seriously injured, but all three were transported to Lampasas ER, treated and released. The cause of this accident is still under investigation as well and once again alcohol is considered to have played a factor in this crash.

Sheriff Brown stated that this was a very busy weekend for all our first responders and that we have not had this many accidents in a very long time.