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Heart attack led to Salmo crash, says coroner’s report

The BC Coroner Service has found the 52-year-old Salmo man who crashed into a parked dump truck suffered a heart attack.
66475westernstar05_19RCMP
The 52-year-old Salmo man who crashed into a parked dump truck in April was suffering a heart attack

The BC Coroner Service has found the 52-year-old Salmo man who crashed into a parked dump truck suffered a heart attack.

On the morning of April 7, Salmo resident Roger Irwin was involved in an accident on Railway Avenue (Highway 6) and Third Street. His car crashed into a parked dump truck.

"According to witnesses, the automobile made a wide left turn onto Highway 6 from Third Street into the far parking lot on the west side of the highway and drove slowly into the driver side rear tires of the parked dump truck," an RCMP release issued at the time stated.

He was transported to Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail by ambulance where he was pronounced dead.

Initial investigation did indicate Irwin may have been experiencing a medical condition prior to the collision and the coroner’s report released this week confirmed that fact.

Classifying the death as due to natural causes, the coroner says Irwin suffered an acute myocardial infiltration due to occlusive coronary atherosclerosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery. This is commonly known as a heart attack.