A 60-year-old Durango woman died and a 64-year-old Mancos man was critically injured in a motorcycle crash Sunday afternoon on Colorado Highway 145 near Telluride, according to the San Miguel Sheriff’s Office.
On Monday, the Durango woman was identified as Kathleen Morrissey. The San Miguel Sheriff’s Office withheld the name of the man.
In a news release, the Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrived at mile marker 66, known locally as Windy Point, around 3 p.m. to find the man on the road, bleeding and partially conscious.
According to the report, Morrissey was thrown over a guardrail and discovered 30 yards down a “steep embankment with bystanders, including a nurse, performing CPR.”
Emergency crews rappelled down the embankment and performed life-saving measures, but Morrissey was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sheriff’s Office said the preliminary investigation shows the motorcycle was southbound on Highway 145 when it failed to negotiate the left turn past the large scenic pullout of Mount Wilson and struck the guardrail.
“On behalf of the Sheriff’s Office and all responders, our thoughts are with the deceased’s family at this very difficult time,” Sheriff Bill Masters said in a prepared statement.
Both individuals were wearing helmets, according to the report, and no drugs or alcohol are suspected to have played a role.
A spokeswoman for the San Miguel Sheriff’s Office could not provide a health update Monday for the man, who was taken Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango with “multiple musculoskeletal injuries” that did appear life-threatening.
The Colorado State Patrol has taken over the investigation.
jromeo@durangoherald.com