A Marshalltown man was killed and an Iowa State Patrol Trooper injured in separate accidents Sunday in eastern Iowa. Twenty-year old Leopoleo Sanchez was killed in a crash on Highway 30 in Benton County. He was a passenger in a car driven by 20 year old Ivan Yepez of Marshalltown.
Authorities say Yepez lost control of the vehicle on a patch of ice and it slid sideways into an oncoming van. Yepez was airlifted to University Hospitals in Iowa City. The driver of the van was not injured. The crash happened shortly after noon Sunday and blocked traffic for nearly two hours.
Meanwhile, State Patrol Trooper James Trainor of Marion suffered minor injuries in crash near the town of Swisher, south of Cedar Rapids. The 36 year old Trainor was a passenger in a patrol car that had it’s emergency lights activated while enroute to an accident. The driver, Trooper Dale Hight of Iowa City, lost control and the vehicle rolled in a ditch – coming to rest on it’s top. Hight was not injured.