CADE — In pitch dark, just before 6 this morning in front of M & M International and Pinnacle Oilfield Service on Louisiana 182, a black Scion TC reportedly was trying to pass at least one vehicle and struck a white Dodge single-cab pickup truck head-on, killing both men in each vehicle.

At press time at 10 a.m., the names of the victims had not been released.

At 7:15 a.m., M & M employees were watching the post-accident scene through the front-office glass door, trying to piece together the events while several workers in the back warehouse sobbed and comforted each other. One witness, M & M employee Mike Martin, had been literally about 30 feet from the crash outside the office’s front door. The crash caused both vehicles to land in the ditch right in front of the two businesses.

Advertisement

Martin could not speak to media at the scene.

“He’s too shaken up,” said Kelly Melancon, M & M manager. “It was a shock to him. A couple of guys back here are having a hard time right now.”

In the “pitch black” morning, Melancon said Martin and several others rushed to put out the flames of the Scion’s engine, which had detached from the car and was lying about 40 feet away on the other side of the road.

“We put that (engine fire) out and then part of the truck, which was also on fire,” Melancon said.

Louisiana State Trooper Willie Williams said the Scion was traveling east toward Cade from Lafayette, passing another vehicle in the no-passing zone/yellow line. The Dodge was traveling west toward Lafayette, he said, when the crash occurred. The Scion’s driver was ejected and the front-wheel assembly was ripped from the vehicle.

A passenger — possibly a woman — in another car that the Scion tried to pass swerved to the right shoulder, narrowly missing a victim, apparently the Scion’s driver. The witness was not injured, Williams said.

At about 7:20 a.m., State Police were placing a black bag over the Scion’s driver, who was lying in the road closer to the railroad tracks. He was apparently bleeding from his chest area; his white shirt was entirely covered in blood. By 7:50, authorities were using the “Jaws of Life” to extract the driver of the pickup truck, as female and male workers turned their eyes away from the grisly scene.

Melancon said “both appeared dead on impact.” Police cleared the scene and refused to allow anyone closer as rescue workers attempted to extract the truck’s driver from his vehicle.

Chasity Perez, inventory agent at M & M, said she heard the crash just before 6 a.m., when employees are expected to get to work. She called 911 after several employees rushed out to the scene a few feet away.

“I was inside and just heard a loud noise,” said Jacob Wormser, M & M inventory purchasing agent, as he wiped his eyes. “That’s when she (Perez) called 911 and I went outside. I saw the vehicles where they are right now. The engine was on fire across the street. This white truck was on fire. You couldn’t see anything. It was bad. Cars were flying through here because they couldn’t tell it was a wreck. Some of the guys here went and slowed them down.”

Simone Deville, M & M sales manager, said accidents often happen along this two-lane stretch of road.

“One employee has had two accidents turning into our driveway,” Deville said. “There was another accident a few years ago where somebody ended up in the ditch. So, it is a scary location. We’re kind of accident-prone right here. But when you see an accident you immediately think, ‘I hope it’s not somebody I work with.’ From what I heard the guys did a great job, because they had to redirect traffic. There was a body in the road and the police didn’t show up for 20 minutes. There were some heroes here.”