Head-On Collision Kills Blackwell Man

A Blackwell man is dead after a head-on collision in Pawnee County. The two-vehicle wreck took place on a rainy Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. on State Highway 18 at 4400 Road, just northeast of Pawnee. 

A pickup and mini van were headed in opposite directions on the highway when they both crossed the center line and collided, according to a report by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The 2007 Dodge pickup was southbound, driven by 22-year-old Derek Thompson of Calumet. William Charles Birdshead, 23, of Pawnee was driving the 1999 Plymouth Voyager northbound on the highway.

The two vehicles collided right front to right front, the investigating trooper states in his report.

A passenger in Birdshead's van, 23-year-old Joseph Newton Jenkins of Blackwell, was pronounced dead at the scene from head, leg and internal injuries.

Birdshead was taken to a Tulsa hospital in critical condition with head and internal injuries. Thompson, the driver of the truck, was treated and released at Stillwater Medical Center.

The trooper says both men in the van were wearing seat belts. The pickup driver was not. Both airbags deployed in the pickup. The minivan's driver side airbag deployed.

Cause of the collision is listed as driving left of center.