Traffic fatalities mar holiday weekend

A traffic fatality near Deer Park Monday night became the fifth roadway death in the Inland Northwest over the Christmas holiday period. Bradley Updegrove, 45, of Deer Park, was headed south on Cedar Road about 9 p.m. when he went off the road, traveled along the shoulder and then struck a tree about two miles southeast of Deer Park. He was driving a 2008 Chevrolet Avalanche pickup. Light snow at the time was not believed to have been a factor in the accident, said Spokane County sheriff’s Detective David Thornburg. A passing motorist discovered the accident and called 911. Deputies on patrol arrived within about six minutes and found the driver without a pulse. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene. The deceased was not wearing a seat belt. Two other accidents dating back to Friday morning claimed four lives. Two teenage girls from Carlin, Nev., died when their car crossed the center line of U.S. Highway 95 near De Smet, Idaho, and collided with a logging truck on Friday morning. A third girl was injured. On Saturday morning, Derrick Wilson, 28 of Cheney, and Brett Schallock, 30, of Spokane, were killed in a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup when the vehicle went off a straightaway on Salnave Road near Cheney and rolled four times, covering a distance of 344 feet. Wilson was identified as the driver. Spokane sheriff’s investigators said the truck may have been going 90 mph. Both men were found dead inside the truck wearing seat belts. The truck landed in a wheat field just east of Granite Lake Road.