Motorist, pedestrian die in separate accidents

A man lost control of his pickup and died in a head-on crash Tuesday night in South Carson City, then just two hours later a pedestrian was killed after being struck by a car near downtown.

The first accident occurred about 6:30 p.m. on South Carson Street near Eagle Station Road when a man driving a white Ford Ranger north appeared to have a health problem before the vehicle crossed through a turn lane and slammed head-on into a southbound Jeep Cherokee, said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Larsen.

The names of the driver who died was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

"An autopsy will have to be conducted to determine (the man's) cause of death," Larsen said.

The man was rushed to Carson-Tahoe Hospital, but died before he could be airlifted to Washoe Medical Center. The woman in the Jeep, identified as 52-year-old Cecilia Zimmerman of Gardnerville, suffered a minor shoulder injury, Larsen said. Both drivers wore seat belts.

Two hours later on South Stewart Street in front of Carson City Fire Station 1, a car struck a man as he crossed the street. The impact knocked the man onto the sedan's windshield, and he died at the scene, said Highway Patrol Trooper Tom Lawson.

"The pedestrian stepped out into the street, rolled up on the car, and was carried for about 25 yards," Lawson said. The man rolled for another 20 yards.

The driver was not seriously hurt but appeared emotionally shaken, Lawson said.

The name of the dead pedestrian, believed to be a transient, was not immediately available.

The Carson City deaths came on the heels of a 3:30 a.m. Tuesday head-on car crash in Stagecoach that left two men and a woman dead.