The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

A 58-year-old man was found inside his vehicle in a ditch on “B” Street near the gate to the Bureau of Reclamation industrial area Friday night.

The driver, Richard J. Wippel, was later pronounced dead at Coulee Medical Center.

Police had to break a side window to gain entrance to the locked pickup, whose driver was then taken to the hospital.

The police report stated that there was no sign of a pulse and it appeared that some type of medical condition caused the vehicle to leave the road. The vehicle was not damaged.

Washington State Patrol was called to investigate and reported to police that “they believed that this was a death that caused the driver to drive off the road, and they saw no signs of the accident causing the death.”