West Virginia officials continue to investigate crash that killed Smithfield man
Ed Riedmann/for the Observer-Reporter
The investigation of a fatal accident on the Cheat Lake Bridge that sent a car and its driver into the freezing water below now includes another vehicle, Monongalia Sheriff Todd Forbes said Thursday.
“The department is determining the level of involvement that 2025 Freightliner tractor-trailer may have had in a 2013 Hyundai going off the interstate bridge and into Cheat Lake,” the sheriff said in a release.
Kevin Lataille, 59, of Smithfield died as a result of the Jan. 19 crash in Monongalia County, W. Va., which occurred at the height of a snowstorm that afternoon. He was still in his vehicle when it was pulled from beneath the surface of the frozen-over lake one week later.
He was on his way home after completing his shift at the Patteson Drive Eat’n Park, according to his family.
Forbes, meanwhile, said his department “will not speculate” on any particulars that may have led to the wreck while the investigation is ongoing.
County detectives and the department’s accident reconstruction team are still doing interviews and other vehicular diagnostic work related to the investigation, the sheriff stated in the release.
Forbes did not return calls for additional comment.