A man who fell asleep at the wheel of his pickup early this (Friday) morning, in Page County, suffered minor injuries when the vehicle did a nose-dive into an embankment. The Page County Sheriff’s Office says 30-year old Cole Curtis Johnson, of rural Clarinda, was taken by private vehicle to the Clarinda Regional Health Center following the crash that happened at around 2-a.m..

Deputies investigated after authorities received word at around 6:45-a.m. about a pickup that was in a field drive at Highway 48 and 170th Street – or about half-way between Shenandoah and Essex — and that the vehicle appeared to have been in a rollover accident. Personnel from the Sheriff’s Office found a maroon 2004 Dodge standard cab pickup in a field drive in the southeast corner of the intersection that had severe damage. No one was around the vehicle.

During the investigation, it was determined that Johnson was operating the 2004 Dodge pickup westbound on 170th, when he fell asleep. The vehicle ran the stop sign at the “T” intersection, went into the ditch on the west side of Highway 48 and hit the ditch. Johnson said he woke up while the vehicle was in the air travelling across the Railroad tracks. The pickup landed on the west side of the railroad tracks, west of the intersection with the front end digging into the embankment.

It came to rest in some trees on the west side of the tracks. Johnson told authorities he then drove the vehicle out and parked on 170th just east of the intersection to assess the damage to the vehicle and him self. The man parked the vehicle in a field drive, and called someone for a ride to the hospital, where he was treated and released.