A traffic accident occurring between Ashland St. and Siskiyou Blvd. at approximately 10:32 p.m. on Wednesday night killed one individual and left another in critical condition, according to a press release on the City of Ashland website.
The accident occurred when the driver of a 2000 Mercedes SUV was turning off of Siskiyou Blvd. onto Ashland St., striking a power pole and building. The impact killed the driver of the vehicle, Salvator Antonio Pippa III, age 33. The passenger in Pippa’s car, Christine Lee Kuehu, 36, was transported to Rogue Regional Medical Center in serious condition. Both individuals are residents of Ashland.
A portion of Ashland was left without power until Thursday afternoon as a result of the accident. This included portions of the Southern Oregon University campus spanning from the Student Health and Wellness Center to part of the Science Building. Classes were relocated during the outage and the university remained open.
Siskiyou reporter Alex Mesadieu was able to be on scene shortly after the accident and posted his own account to his blog with the accompanying photo above.
Police are still investigating the accident.
