Wreck injures one, backs up traffic

A three-car crash on Highway 82 snarled traffic early Tuesday morning and sent one man to the hospital.North Glen resident Larry Lemaster was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital after the crash, where he was treated for minor injuries and released, said trooper Cody Abernathy of the Colorado State Patrol. One Aspen man was cited for his role in the crash, Abernathy said.

At 6:40 a.m., Robert Peden of Aspen was driving a red Ford Ranger east on Highway 82 when he reportedly attempted to make a lane change and cut off a vehicle in the left lane. Abernathy said the wreck happened at mile marker 33, near Twining Flats Road.The car that was cut off, a Chevrolet driven by Carbondale resident Antonio Loaeza, swerved to avoid striking Peden’s vehicle. But Loaeza lost control of his car, swerved into the median and overcorrected into the right and then left shoulder.Loaeza’s car struck a full-sized dodge truck that Lemaster was driving, causing Lemaster to go into the median where his truck rolled one-and-a-quarter times.

Responding emergency officials closed the left lane of traffic while attending to the scene; Abernathy said he was in the area investigating the crash for about an hour.”It messed up traffic for quite a while,” he said.

Excessive speed was not considered a factor in the crash, and only Peden was cited for making an unsafe lane change.Naomi Havlen’s e-mail address is nhavlen@aspentimes.com