A WOODLAND MAN DIED and his two friends were injured on Dec. 31, when the 2003 Ford Mustang they were in went off the road in the 800 block of Insel Road in Woodland and crashed into a deep ravine. Photo courtesy of the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.
The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is investigating the cause of a single car crash that left a Woodland man dead and his two passengers injured.
The accident occurred at approximately 10:40 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2013 in the 800 block of Insel Road in Woodland. The 2003 Ford Mustang was driven by 28-year-old Christopher Beacock of Woodland, with owner of the car, 25-year-old Matthew Hance of Battle Ground and 33-year-old Nicholas Ackerill of Ridgefield, with him. According to the CCSO, all three men had just left Beacock’s residence in Woodland, less than a mile from where the accident took place. It was also reported that Hance was allowing Beacock to “test drive” his car.
Two independent witnesses report the car was travelling at a high rate of speed when it failed to navigate a corner and went off the road. It went down a 45-degree decline and landed in a ravine approximately 60-feet deep.
Beacock was pronounced dead at the scene. Hance was unconscious and Ackerill was conscious but both had to be extracted from the back seat. Rescue teams has difficulty reaching the vehicle due to the steep terrain and more than 50 firefighters from both Clark and Cowlitz County responded to the call, along with the Cowlitz County Sheriffs and the Woodland Police Department.
Both men were taken to Southwest WA Medical Center with undisclosed injuries. Their current status was not released by the CCSO.
Whether alcohol was involved as a cause of the crash is unknown pending the completion of blood toxicology tests.
