CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Police identified the woman killed on Route 288 Monday night as Sharon L. Letender, 53, of Chester. Letender survived the initial crash on the icy highway during Monday's winter storm. She was killed standing with a Virginia State Police trooper while on the highway median.
Letender was driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck that collided with a Volkswagen sedan on Route 288 North, near Lucks Lane, at about 5:15 p.m. Monday, police said. Both vehicles slid into the median and the driver of the Volkswagen was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
When Virginia State Police arrived at the crash site to investigate, the trooper and Letender were standing near the crashed vehicles.
"As Trooper Glasscock continued with his crash investigation, he was standing with the crashed vehicles in the median with Letender and one of the two Volkswagen passengers when a 2010 Honda Civic traveling south on Route 288 ran off the left side of the highway," Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. "The Civic first struck Trooper Glasscock’s patrol car. The impact of that crash spun the Civic around and caused it to slide into the median where it struck Trooper Glasscock, Letender and the male passenger."
Letender was thrown and struck a Chesterfield County firefighter, who was also at the scene, Geller said. Letender died at the scene. The firefighter was treated for minor injuries.
"Trooper Glasscock and the male passenger were transported to VCU Medical Center for treatment of serious injuries," Geller said. "Both are still being treated at the hospital."
Civic driver Nicholas B. Pisula, 28, of Richmond, was not injured in the crash.
"He was wearing a seat belt," Geller said. "Pisula was charged with reckless driving. Speed was a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation at this time."
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