Motorist injured, 25 cattle killed in two-vehicle crash in Douglas County
On Tuesday afternoon, March 11, at approximately 3:53 pm, Troopers from the Nevada Highway Patrol were dispatched to a motor vehicle crash on State Route 88 at the intersection with Waterloo Lane in Douglas County involving two vehicles.
The vehicles involved were a blue 2013 Peterbilt tractor towing a silver semi-trailer transporting 66 head of cattle driven by 25-year-old Grant T. Terpstra of Stockton, California, and a maroon 2006 Subaru Forester station wagon driven by 61-year-old George N. Jaqua of Stateline. The traffic transitioning through this intersection is controlled by a signal light.
Evidence at the scene and witnesses to the crash indicate Terpstra, who was traveling south on the two-lane highway, failed to obey the traffic signal light and proceeded into the intersection on a red light and struck the right side of the Subaru, which was traveling west on Waterloo Lane. After striking the Subaru, the big-gig struck the traffic signal light pole and sheered an adjacent power pole.
Jacqua was injured in the crash and was airlifted from the scene to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno for non-life-threatening injuries while Terpstra escaped injury. 25 cows died in the collision and the remaining 41 were either uninjured or sustained minor injuries and were secured in a nearby pasture. A brand inspector from the Nevada Department of Agriculture was dispatched to the scene to assist our agency with the animals. The cattle were being transported from Yerington to Escalon, California.
The intersection was closed for nearly six hours while troopers and other personnel investigated and cleared the scene. The traffic signal light is still non-operational and four temporary stop signs have been erected to control the flow of traffic until those repairs are made; which may take several days to accomplish. Terpstra was cited for failing to obey a traffic signal light.