3 taken to hospitals after armored truck collision on U.S. 281
CONNIE SWINNEY • STAFF WRITER
BURNET — The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating a collision between an armored truck and an SUV on March 7 on U.S. 281 that resulted in three people being taken to area emergency rooms, according to the DPS report.
The crash happened at 2:08 p.m. just south of the Park Road 4 intersection.
“The armored truck was southbound on U.S. 281. For unknown reasons at this time, the driver drove off the roadway on the west side unimproved shoulder, causing him to overcorrect to the left, going into northbound traffic of 281,” DPS Trooper Jose Colombo said. “It struck (the SUV), which was northbound in the outside lane of 281.
“They both completed a 180, coming to rest on the unimproved shoulder of 281,” he added.
The 2010 armored truck, an Austin-based Loomis transport vehicle, was driven by Nicolas Lopez, 42, of Cedar Park and occupied in the back of the vehicle by a guard, Janet Castilleja, 56, also of Cedar Park, according to the report.
The 2012 Hyundai SUV was driven by 26-year-old Kendall Simmons of Burnet.
Simmons was flown by helicopter to an Austin-area facility with incapacitating injuries, the report stated.
Lopez was taken to Seton Highland Lakes by ambulance. Castilleja was taken to Seton Medical Center Williamson with unknown injuries.
The collision temporarily delayed traffic as one of the patients was loaded into the helicopter, which landed on the highway, according to the report.
Crews cleared the collision by 3:15 p.m.
connie@thepicayune.com