Accident claims two near Max
By STU MERRY
A Ryder youth who was attending Max School, and a Minot woman died this past weekend when the car they were in went off a gravel road, overturned and came to rest in a slough.
The victims were 16-year-old Julie Beaver, a junior at Max High School, and Ciera Rounsiville, 18, a 2013 graduate of Washburn High School.
It is unknown when the accident occurred. The Ward County Sheriff’s Department was notified of the accident at about 8:40 this past Saturday morning when a passerby noticed a red Pontiac on its roof in a slough off the road about eight miles northeast of Max.
Firefighters who first arrived on the scene located two females; one in the back seat of the car and one outside of the vehicle. They were later identified as the driver of the car, Julie Beaver, and the passenger in the vehicle, Ciera Rounsiville. Both individuals were pronounced dead at the scene.
The sheriff’s department said an investigation revealed that the car had been traveling westbound on 317 Ave. SE when it failed to negotiate a corner. After the driver lost control of the vehicle, it rolled several times landing on its roof in approximately three feet of water.
Neither the passenger nor the driver were wearing their safety restraints.
The accident is being investigated by the Ward County Sheriff’s Department and the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The investigation continues.
