By Larry Judkins
Glenn County Observer
Two Glenn County men, one from the community of Glenn and the other from Willows, were killed in a late evening vehicle crash in eastern Glenn County.
According to a press release from the Willows Area Office of the California Highway Patrol, at about 9:50 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16, Rodney Wayne Yeager, 44, of Glenn, was driving a 2015 Ford F-250 pickup north on County Road X, approaching County Road 34.
Lucas Kane Nunes, 45, of Willows, was sitting in the right front passenger seat.
For unknown reasons, when Yeager approached the T-intersection at County Roads X and 34, he neither slowed down nor turned the Ford,
The vehicle traveled across Road 34 and crashed into the north embankment of a ditch that runs parallel to the road off the north side of Road 34.
Both Yeager and Nunes were pronounced dead at the scene.
According to CHP Officer Nick DeFrancesco, it is unknown if drugs or alcohol were a factor in this accident. Neither occupant of the Ford was wearing his seatbelts at the time of the crash.
The accident remains under investigation by the CHP.
According to the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office, which conducted the coroner’s investigations, deputies were dispatched to a report of a traffic accident in the area of County Roads X and 24 at about 10 p.m.
Volunteers from the Bayliss Fire Department and officers from the CHP also responded.
The sheriff’s log entry for this incident states that “Rodney Wayne Yeager and Lucas Kane Nunes, both of Glenn, were pronounced deceased by medical personnel.”
Yeager’s next of kin, his mother, Deborah Lynn Forrister of Chico, was notified of the death, as was Nunes’ next of kin, his father, Richard John Nunes of Willows.
According to the Glenn County Superior Court website, over the years the driver in Tuesday night’s fatal accident, Rodney Yeager, was charged with a number of traffic violations that may shed some light on this incident.
In 2021, Yeager pled guilty to speeding over a 55 miles per hour limit (an infraction). In 2019, he was charged with hit and run with property damage (a misdemeanor that was dismissed).
And, perhaps most significant given that neither Yeager nor his passenger were wearing seatbelts, in 2011, Yeager was convicted of a seatbelt violation (an infraction).
The Glenn County Observer 