Man may be charged in highway deaths

Karen Zekan

Friday, March 21, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A Prescott, Ariz., man who was driving southbound in a northbound lane may face charges for triggering an accident that killed a Beatty woman and her 15-year-old son.

Claude Robert Smith, 55, remained in serious condition at University Medical Center after being transported by Flight for Life from the crash site on U.S. 95 outside Goldfield.

Smith was southbound in the northbound lane of the two-lane highway at 6:55 p.m. Wednesday when his Ford pickup hit a northbound Ford sedan driven by Kathleen Thompson, 44, authorities said.

Thompson swerved into the southbound lane, where her car was crushed by an oncoming tractor-trailer rig driven by Floyd DuBose of North Carolina, said Trooper Steve Harney, Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman.

Thompson and her son, Ethan, were instantly killed, Harney said. DuBose escaped injury.

Traffic in both directions was held up for two hours in an effort to clear the roadway and handle the investigation.

"The NHP officers knew Thompson and her son because they all live in the same area," Harney said. "It was especially tragic because the woman's husband and their other child passed the accident on the freeway and recognized the car."

Medical personnel took a sample of Smith's blood to determine if he was under the influence, which Harney said is a standard procedure for all fatal traffic accidents.

"At this point, there is nothing to explain why he was in that northbound lane," Harney said.