A Centralia man was killed and another injured following a one-vehicle rollover traffic crash late Friday night at the Dam East Spillway near Carlyle Lake.
The Clinton County Sheriff’s Department reports that a passenger in the car, Christopher Ray, was ejected and sustained fatal injuries from the crash.
The driver, Michael Ray, was able to exit the vehicle himself and received non-incapacitating injuries.
The sheriff’s department says the crash occurred when the car was westbound on Dam East Spillway Road, where the roadway turns south along the Kaskaskia River. Michael Ray failed to negotiate the curve and struck the guardrail, causing the vehicle to go airborne. The car then struck the rip rap, rolled end over end, and went down the rock riverbank. It came to rest upright, facing northeast, near the water’s edge of the Kaskaskia River.
The sheriff’s department was first notified of the crash from 911 calls at 10:14 Friday night. Clinton County Sheriff’s Deputies, Carlyle Police, MedStar EMS, Breese EMS, Air Evac, Carlyle Fire Department, Clinton County Coroner’s office, US Army Corps of Engineers rangers, as well as an Illinois State Police Accident Reconstructionist all responded to the scene.
