Diabetic attack may explain Friday morning Midway crash

[admin]

DURHAM — An insulin imbalance may be responsible for a man passing out behind the wheel and crashing his Dodge Dakota pickup into a tree on the Midway north of Durham Friday morning.

The California Highway Patrol said a passenger in the vehicle, Deborah Buccola, 47, described her husband, Jeffrey Mann, 46, as being passed out and slumped over the wheel before the crash.

Investigators said the pickup was traveling north at about 45 mph, with Mann unconscious, before hitting the tree south of Roble Avenue.

CHP officer Paul Sadowski said the truck hit the tree on the passenger side, sustaining major damage, but there was no intrusion into the cab. He sad Mann and Buccola were wearing seat belts, and air bags in the vehicle deployed.

Both victims were transported to Enloe Medical Center in Chico with complaints of pain.

Sadowski said Mann was alert and testing his insulin when emergency personnel arrived.

"The driver said he only had a granola bar with his insulin Friday morning, and that may not have been enough sugar," Sadowski said.

The crash remains under investigation.