Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
A Warsaw woman was killed and a Columbia City man injured in a one-car accident Monday near North Webster.
Patricia K. Gerth, 33, of Warsaw, was pronounced dead at Kosciusko Community Hospital due to massive head and internal injuries following the 6:14 p.m. accident on CR 750E, north of Armstrong Road.
According to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, Gerth was a passenger in a car driven by William L. Sroufe Jr., 36, of Columbia City. Sroufe said he was southbound on CR 750E when he lost control of his car and began to veer toward a ditch. When he attempted to swerve back onto the roadway, the car went left of the center line, skidded off the east side of CR 750E and hit a dirt embankment. The car then went airborne and struck a utility pole, coming to rest in a ditch.
Emergency personnel used the jaws of life to extract Gerth from the wreckage.
Police believe neither Gerth nor Sroufe was wearing a seat belt. Sroufe had a blood alcohol content of .074 percent, and was not charged.
Assisting the sheriff's department at the accident scene were personnel from the North Webster EMS, fire and police departments and Multi-Township EMS.
Gerth is the 19th fatality so far this year. Thirteen fatalities occurred in 1995.
