Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Saturday proved deadly for two area residents involved in separate auto crashes in Kosciusko County.
David Lee Bratten II, 37, of Silver Lake, was pronounced dead at the scene of a 5:10 a.m. accident at the intersection of Ind. 13 and CR 500E, near Pierceton. An 8:12 a.m. accident on Ind. 19, north of CR 250N, claimed the life of 41-year-old Esther E. Peckham of Etna Green.
According to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Office, alcohol was a factor in the one-vehicle accident in which Bratten was involved; his blood-alcohol level was .171 percent.
Bratten's van was found by a passerby, and it is not known how long the vehicle was at that location prior to its discovery. Bratten was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the van he was driving. He suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by Kosciusko County Deputy Coroner Larry Ladd.
A KSCO report indicates that Bratten was southbound on Ind. 13 when, for an unknown reason, he drove off the right side of the road. He then overcorrected and drove off the east side of the road, where he hit an earth embankment and the van rolled over.
Assisting at the scene were Pierceton Fire Department and EMS.
In the second accident, Peckham was a passenger in a car driven by her husband, Charles E. Peckham, 50, of Etna Green, when it ran over a large bump or an object in the roadway, possibly causing damage to the vehicle's steering.
The car, a 1983 "kit car" hotrod convertible, veered off the west side of Ind. 19 and into a ditch embankment before flipping over into a bean field. The vehicle's front axle was knocked off.
Both of the Peckhams were wearing their seat belts and neither was ejected, but Mrs. Peckham did not have a pulse when emergency personnel arrived. CPR was started at the scene, and Peckham regained a heart beat prior to being airlifted in critical condition to Parkview Memorial Hospital, Fort Wayne. She later died as a result of her injuries.
Mr. Peckham suffered leg injuries and was treated at Kosciusko Community Hospital, Warsaw, and released.
The couple were on their way to a custom car show in Kokomo when the accident occurred.
Both accidents remain under investigation.
Saturday's traffic deaths bring the number of vehicular fatalities to 15 for 1996, two more than in all of 1995.
