Deer hit, starts chain-reaction Spooner wrecks

An injured deer in the roadway on Spooner Summit preceded an accident that blocked eastbound traffic for about 40 minutes Monday on Highway 50.

Nevada Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Clark said a Nevada Department of Transportation employee in a marked pickup with lights came upon the deer as it lay in the eastbound lanes just east of the summit at about 1 p.m.

The NDOT employee allegedly stopped his vehicle and turned on his amber light bar on top of the truck to move the deer, which had apparently been struck by a vehicle that had left the scene.

A Subaru also slowed down, or stopped completely, said Clark, when Katie Oxley of South Lake Tahoe came upon the scene. Oxley's Honda sedan slammed into the back of the state truck.

"If the Subaru had been moving, I would have hit the truck," said Oxley who suffered cuts from broken glass and a fat lip. "I had no time to stop."

Clark said Oxley was likely speeding, with one witness estimating her speed at 70 mph, when the accident happened. Oxley, however, said she was going just 35 mph when she tried to avoid the Subaru, struck the truck, then bounced into the concrete barrier.

No one was transported to the hospital, though both Oxley's Honda and the state truck received extensive damage and were towed from the scene

A Douglas County deputy killed the deer, whose legs were visibly broken.